Why you should want to work for Goldman Sachs' back office

If you work in investment banking operations and still value the prospect of an annual bonus - join Goldman Sachs. Goldman pays twice as much as its nearest rival, BNP Paribas, and nearly seven times as much as the lowest bonuses paid out in the back office at SocGen.

In an era when investment banks are either outsourcing their back office functions (as it the case at SocGen) or shifting the jobs out to lower cost destinations (J.P. Morgan in Bournemouth, Morgan Stanley and Barclays in Glasgow, Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Croydon), it's all the more surprising that bonuses in operations divisions should hit tens of thousands.

And yet, new figures from salary benchmarking firm Emolument.com suggest that Goldman Sachs paid its UK back office staff an average of £38k for its back office VPs. BNP Paribas, the closest competitor in terms of bonus payments, paid £21k.

Goldman's total comp for its back office is £125k, ahead of its nearest rivals Nomura (£116k) and Deutsche Bank (£112k). Nomura is second by virtue of its generous salaries - £108k on average. While the range in bonus payments is huge, there's more parity across the banks when it comes to total compensation. Only SocGen (£71k) lags the pack.

If you want a big bonus and the largest total compensation, work at Goldman Sachs. If you want the security of a more generous salary, go to Nomura, Deutsche Bank or J.P. Morgan.