Global custodians forced to pay up
Custody may not be hottest area of financial services, but with salaries for custodians increasing, its temperature is at least rising.
Pay for custody staff is up around 10% across the board this year, says Emily Ayre, manager of the asset management division at recruitment firm Morgan McKinley in London.
It doesn't help that staff in the hottest area - derivatives - are being poached by organisations with deeper pockets. "On the processing side especially, for those with derivatives experience we have seen a drain from custody to investment banks," says Clare Maslen, a senior consultant at recruitment agency Joslin Rowe.
A good derivatives candidate with two years' experience can now earn around 35k-45k, she says - only marginally less than at an investment bank. An additional couple of years could add another 10% to that salary.
Transition management roles are proving particularly difficult to fill, pushing up wages to around 35k-40k as custodians attempt to lure employees from their competitors. But with bonus season almost upon us, staff are particularly unwilling to switch jobs. However, says Maslen, "It's a good time to move - there are plenty of jobs and the salary increases are out there."
Custodians' rising wage bills were highlighted in a recent article in Financial News. The paper said global custodians have seen their wage bills expand by between 11% and 19% in the first nine months of this year. While the top roles are commanding the biggest increases, this should be good news for those further down the ladder too.
Even though Ireland and Scotland and the north of England are increasingly popular destinations for custody operations, Ayre says there are still plenty of jobs in London. Anyone losing their job as a result of custodians such as Bank of New York shifting out of the City in favour of Manchester, should find it easy to walk into a new one.
