Wall Street Beats London's City in Pay for Middle Office Workers

Middle office professionals should move to Wall Street if they’re chasing money, but stick to the City of London if they want more career opportunities.

Pay for senior risk and compliance professionals working in banking in New York outstrip those for equivalent roles in London, Continental Europe and Asia, according to the 2013 salary survey released today by recruiters Robert Walters. Risk and compliance roles at banks are among the few  for which the survey compares pay globally.

A senior compliance professional working in an investment bank in New York can expect between $250-525k, suggests the survey, while an equivalent role in London pays a maximum of $232k. In fact, Wall Street compliance pay outstrips every other geography; Singapore is the closest competitor with senior salaries out up to $298k.

Not surprisingly, with the onslaught of regulation, compliance recruitment remained high globally, suggests the survey, with hedge funds, commercial banks and investment banks alike all competing for talent.

It’s more of a mixed job market for risk professionals, however. In London, risk recruitment “remained high throughout 2012”, particularly in operational risk, and has continued to be active throughout the first few weeks of 2013, says Robert Walters.

In New York, meanwhile, banks are less likely to recruit risk professionals. “With the potential restrictiveness of Dodd-Rank remaining unclear, many bulge bracket firms were cautious in their risk management hiring approaches,” said the survey. “Firms also looked to fill many roles with internal candidates whenever possible.”

Below are the risk and compliance salaries for different countries: