How much am I worth? Director, corporate finance, Paris

A panel of specialist headhunters give their assessment of typical pay packages: Director, corporate finance, Paris-based - salary €165,000 (115,000); bonus up to 150%

The author Samuel Johnson famously suggested that when a person is tired of London, they are tired of life.

For those in financial services, the person who grows tired of the rat-race in the City can always try Paris. It is a myth that salaries and bonuses are invariably lower in the French capital than the British; it was true once but international banks now recognise that if you want to retain quality staff you must pay them the same no matter where they are.

So a director in corporate finance will often earn a similar (gross) package whether in London or Paris. Directors tend to take a base salary of between €140,000-€175,000 depending on their seniority, whilst bonuses will also vary for the same reason, said Chris Haynes, consultant in corporate finance at Alexander Mann Global Markets.

There are other similarities: the typical background of a director is at least seven and ideally 10 years of investment banking experience, with some having also gone down the MBA route. Directors tend to have a responsibility for origination, often leading a deal to completion, though usually working with a managing director.

Haynes suggested that most directors covering France and based there are French nationals, for language reasons and for their knowledge of clients. However there are differences: some international banks view their Paris office as an outgrowth of the London one, where top decisions continue to be made.

They will also describe their Paris teams as those who are responsible for the French market on a day to day basis - this could mean that sector specialists based in London are included in the French total.

Many corporate finance directors at international banks in Paris - indeed most, if anecdotal evidence is anything to go by - have arrived there via London, where they tend to do their training.

Isabelle Martin, corporate finance specialist at Korn/Ferry, said: "Once you get more senior you are moved to be closer to your clients."

She said however that among French banks the tradition of employing top level professionals with a background in the famous Ecole Nationale d'Administration, where most senior establishment figures have been educated, remains in force - which in practice means many directors could be political appointments.

"Contacts and the level of board-room acceptability still owe much to the Ecole," she said, adding however that things are changing.

That's not the only way French banks differ: all run their French corporate finance out of Paris, many allow greater integration within their investment banking teams and most pay rather less - even in gross terms - than their international counterparts.

So why move to a French bank in Paris if the pay is lower and you must live in a less cosmopolitan atmosphere than London, surrounded by former civil servants?

Martin points out that although taxes are higher rents tend to be lower, as are many other prices; a job in a French organisation sets you up well if you wish to develop your career further in France, maybe into other, different avenues.

And there is perhaps one other reason. Not only is the food better, but French corporate financiers - unlike many of their British counterparts, accustomed to a sandwich and a can of Coke at their desks - have not forgotten the importance of the long business lunch.

Even nowadays, Pret a Manger means something rather different from what it does in London.

Figures and commentary by Alexander Mann Global Markets and Korn/Ferry

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