Deutsche Bank: secretly an incredibly good payer

16 February 2010

2 minute read

Deutsche Bank: secretly an incredibly good payer

This is the conclusion we've belatedly reached from looking at Deutsche's compensation costs for 2009.

As we noted last week, despite the depreciation of the euro, Deutsche Bank was one of the best payers in dollar terms for last year. Average total compensation per head at the corporate and investment bank was $478k (€347k), only marginally behind Goldman Sachs at $498k.

However, while Goldman's compensation figure covers its investment banking, sales and trading, principal investments, asset management, and securities services (prime brokerage) businesses, Deutsche's includes the 4,156 people who work in its lower paying, 'Global Transaction Services' division.

Precisely how much lower paying the Global Transaction Services division really is, isn't clear as Deutsche doesn't break out compensation costs on a divisional basis. However, given its employees are involved in corporate banking functions, like cash management, it's reasonable to assume that they're paid a lot less than the bank's traders and corporate financiers.

Employees of Global Transaction Services make up 30% of the total in the corporate and investment bank.

One senior headhunter confirms the suspicion that Deutsche pays its investment bankers remarkably well: "They generally pay much higher than other banks, across the spectrum. It's particularly the case at junior levels - total comp numbers for VPs at Deutsche are often at levels you'd never see at Goldman or Morgan Stanley."

Yesterday, it emerged that Deutsche will pay cash bonuses up to €100k, with 25% plus being deferred beyond that as pay thresholds are passed. MDs will have 75% of bonuses deferred.

AUTHORSarah Butcher

Global Editor

Ja
James
17 February 2010
I agree that banks outsource jobs to cut costs. What I am trying to say here is that the pay has to be on par with industry standards.
If you notice the comments mentioned above, people in other regions also feel the same. The bottom line is that the pay has to be on par with industry standards and not abysmaly compared to it.
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Eg
Egghead
17 February 2010
"Its a shame to say what the bank pays its india employees!"
Another way of looking at this is to say the ENTIRE reason for outsourcing to India etc is to cut costs, so paying the bare minimum can be described as rational behaviour.
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Ja
James
17 February 2010
It definitely pays its India employees in GBS very very less compared to other banks.
Its a shame to say what the bank pays its india employees!
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Ex
ExDB
16 February 2010
Worked at DB (Structured Finance) for some years. Pay was below market at all levels - esp Associate. MDs even recognise this. Attitude depends which area you work in, but trading certainly very aggressive. On the flip side and to be fair, DB is certainly one of the biggest players in Europe and has in a lot of areas a decent infrastructure.
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Ha
Hadock
16 February 2010
Agree with the above. In the M&A team compensation was highly dissappointing (at 2009 levels)
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