These are the general parameters for 2011 analyst bonuses in M&A at leading investment banks

With the alleged exception of BAML, where the announcement of a few analyst bonuses has apparently been delayed due to the holiday-related absence of some senior staff, most M&A analysts at investment banks now know their 2011 compensation.

According to Nick Silver, an M&A headhunter at search firm Berkeley Frost, this year's analyst bonuses are up - marginally on last year's. However, he says there is a bigger-than-ever discrepancy between payment for top ranked analysts and payment for bottom ranked analysts.

If you were top ranked last year and not top ranked this year, you may therefore end up earning less.

2011 analyst compensation

Analyst 1: Salary: 45k. Bonus: 20-30k

Analyst 2: Salary 50k. Bonus: 35-50k.

Analyst 3: Salary 58k. Bonus: 40-65k.

Source: Berkeley Frost

Silver says there's not much discrepancy between pay at leading banks.

This is confirmed by figures from US site Dealbreaker, which suggest Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan paid very similarly.

Dealbreaker's figures also suggest a strange similarity between pay for analysts in the US and the UK: top 3rd year analysts in New York are receiving $105k, which translates to 65k in London; top second year analysts in NY are receiving $85k, which is 52k in sterling.