BTG Pactual: A bank that's hiring and that increased compensation 74% y-on-y in the first quarter

BTG Pactual's first quarter results came out on Friday. They tell a happy tale.

Revenues were not merely up, they were exponentially up. Sales and trading revenues rose 169% year-on-year in the first quarter. In 'principal investments' (AKA prop trading), they were up 303%. Overall, BTG's revenues rose 96% in Q1. Only investment banking, down 52%, was a disappointment.

However, it's not the revenue line wherein the true happiness lies. It's in the headcount and compensation figures. The table below says three important things: BTG has been hiring (including in London - click here for who it likes to hire); it's average bonus is five time it's average salary; and pay per head rose 75% year on year.

Fourthly, it says average compensation per head at BTG was $149k in the first quarter. At Goldman Sachs it was $135k.

Headcount and pay BTG Pactual 

(At the risk of besmirching the joy, we'd also like to point out that VaR was up 93% at BTG Pactual in the first quarter and that it's entirely possible that the increase in pay is due to hiring outside Brazil, where we presume people are paid less.)