Corporate finance pay: uniformity for juniors

The latest report from financial services recruiter Morgan McKinley shows hiring in the London financial services market continuing to surge ahead. Pay is rising too, but at a surprisingly uniform rate.

According to Morgan McKinley, the number of job vacancies rose 52% and the number of candidates rose 43% in the first two weeks of this year compared to the same period in 2005.

Olivia Richi Basurto, manager of Morgan McKinley's investment banking and capital markets division, says demand was particularly strong for analysts and associates in corporate finance. "Pretty much every single investment bank that's active in M&A is recruiting," she said. "There's strong demand at the junior end of the market."

Unfortunately for junior corporate financiers, it seems strong demand isn't prompting some banks to offer juniors substantially higher salaries than others. Basurto says salaries for graduate entrants into corporate finance roles are surprisingly uniform at 35,000.

First year analysts can bank on salaries of 42,000 and second year analysts can expect 47,000. She says associate salaries are almost always 55,000 for first years, 58,000 for second years and 64,000 for third years.

Although Basurto says bonuses are higher at top banks, creating an incentive for juniors to seek roles in those institutions, guaranteed bonuses are rare. On average, she says analysts get 70% to 120% of their salary in bonus, while associates can expect between 100% and 300%.