There’s only one place you can earn £365k as a compliance professional

You’re a compliance professional with the world at your feet, able to name your price for a new job and choose from an array of employers all baying for your service. Sort of.

But before you make the decision about which bank to join, bear this in mind – if you make it to the top, you’ll earn more than TWICE as much by working for a U.S. investment bank in London, than you will by offering your services to a UK or European investment bank.

That’s according to figures featured in Morgan McKinley’s employment monitor for the London financial services market. Compensation for compliance professionals in investment banking is generally on a par between European and U.S. institutions until it gets to MD level, when the big bonuses at American investment banks win out.

It’s also worth noting that MD is the only level where bonuses are even remotely comparable to the front office. Analysts, for example, are paid good starting salaries but receive bonuses of just £1.2-2.5k, while even director-level employees receive less than £30k. All the recent pressure on pay has been solely focused on salaries, it seems.