How much analysts in large banks earn before and after tax, all over the world, according to UBS

As part of its 2012 report on purchasing power around the globe, UBS has had a look at the amount you can earn as an analyst in a bank everywhere from New York and Nairobi, Amsterdam or Athens and Brussels to Dubai, and every major financial center in the world. It also looks at the average number of hours worked by financial analysts in each of the cities. For example, in New York, an analyst at UBS can expect to earn just over $120,000 gross for 45 hours of work per week. That's better than some and worse than other cities.

UBS says its pay figures are for someone who’s: Employed at a major bank with completed studies (university, technical institute, possibly also an institute of higher technical education) and at least 5 years of work experience; about 30 to 35 years old, single.

Here we have the table, titled ‘Income and working hours of financial analysts,’  in its entirety:

Source: UBS

The keen-eyed among you may notice some anomalies. Most notably, UBS thinks 30-35 year old financial analysts working for major banks in London earn $64,200 (£39k) gross and only work 40 hours a week. This is despite a recent pay survey from Dartmouth Partners which found that total average compensation in for first year M&A analysts in London was anything from £57k to £74k and that UBS itself was paying £66k.

UBS thinks analysts in Seoul earn 2.5 times more than analysts in London, despite only working three hours more per week. On the other hand, you would not want to work in Manila, where it thinks you’ll earn 6 times less than in London for the equivalent effort.

We would suggest that when it comes to London at least, UBS’s figures are wrong. Either that, or it knows something we don’t.

Also interestingly, and possibly more reliably, it suggests that if you want a lot of holiday you should be working in Copehagen, Paris, Madrid – and avoiding New York and Mexico City.

Source: UBS