At last, financial technologists are getting pay rises

After largely sitting tight for a couple of years, investment banking techies appear to be rapidly taking advantage of their new found popularity and are securing pay rises of up to 25%.

Money is the biggest motivator for financial IT workers switching jobs, according to Hays Financial Technology, which surveyed over 500 techies in March. Of the respondents, 77% intend to look for a new position this year, and 41% of those are doing so to secure a pay rise.

"Salary freezes, increased workloads and redundancies have resulted in decreased loyalty from employees, which has contributed to feelings of unrest," says Sam Corcoran, director at Hays Finance Technology.

The financial IT jobs market appears to be relatively buoyant going into 2010, with increased budgets and new projects all contributing to firms' new-found desire to recruit. But is it still slightly optimistic to expect a significant pay rise?

Paul Elworthy, associate director in the IT in banking and financial services division of Hudson, believes not: "We are seeing something of a bidding war coming back into play. There hasn't been a great deal of improvement on basic salaries for nearly two years, but we're seeing upward pressure due to multiple job offers and counter offers from existing employers."

He says that those switching jobs can currently secure anything between a 10-25% pay rise, and that investment banking recruits are more likely to be at the higher end of that scale.

Average salaries are up across the board, according to figures from IT in finance recruiters the JM Group, which suggests pay has increased by 8-12.5%.

"On average each investment banking candidate has in the region of 10 positions that they are being submitted for at different banks, resulting in increased competitiveness around attracting candidates," says Darrell Cameron-Webb, head of investment banking at the JM Group.

Financial Technology salaries Q1 2010:

Source: The JM Group