Hedge fund comp falling so fast pay studies can't keep up

Last week, Hedgeworld sent an email publicizing the '2009 Hedge Fund Compensation Report' in partnership with recruitment company Glocap. It all sounded a little too good to be true: according to the preamble, hedge funds were very eager to hire risk and compliance people and pay wasn't appreciably lower than it used to be. Unfortunately, Glocap says it's all been superannuated by more recent events.

"The report was released and published before the fall, but Hedgeworld are still publicizing it," explains Adam Zoia, managing partner of Glocap Search. "We've been walking through the figures with clients and explaining that pay is down pretty materially on those figures - typically by as much as 30-40%, but sometimes by 50-60% or more."

What about all those infrastructure hires?

Zoia says funds' appetite for adding headcount has been hit by declining assets under management. There's still some demand from hedge funds for risk and compliance staff, distressed debt and fixed income managers, and fund marketing and investor relations professionals. However, hiring is "significantly reduced" compared to last year.

Hedge fund pay - all figures to be reduced by at least 40%

Execution traders:

$0-1bn in assets under management: $103k (mean base); $110k (mean bonus)

$1-3bn in assets under management: $122k (mean base); $125k (mean bonus)

$3-10bn in assets under management: $131k (mean base); $130k (mean bonus)

Source: Glocap; 2009 Hedge Fund Compensation Report.