Morning Coffee: Which 35-year-old traders earn over $530k? The glory days are over

If you work in the fixed income currencies and commodities (FICC) division of a large investment bank, you have every right to feel a little hard done by. Revenues continue to tumble and even FICC powerhouses like Deutsche Bank are beginning to question the viability of remaining committed to all business areas.

But there’s still one big upside – pay. Credit, arguably one of the hardest hit sectors across FICC, still pays the most according to new figures from Emolument.com.

Directors in credit can still bring in nearly $530k, according to analysis of pay for nearly 1,100 traders, and 50% of this is bonus. Senior rates traders are second with around $500k in total compensation, but FX traders at director level can expect $392k.

Interestingly, pay remains relatively similar for all traders from analyst to VP level. VPs can expect $210-260k – again credit traders earn the most – while analyst pay comes in at around $70k.

But traders are advised to enjoy it while they can. The new reality is that investment banks are cutting back, investing in technology and replacing human traders with computers. This is not a new phenomenon, of course, but Reuters suggests that it’s only going downhill from here, and that traders used to earning huge salaries in high octane careers are now struggling to adjust to a new reality.

One former senior trader now sells LED lighting, and still hampers for the glory days.

Meanwhile: 

UBS is streamlining its fund operations, and Dawn Fitzpatrick was named to head a combined equity, hedge fund and multi-asset investing operations unit.(FinAlternatives) 

Large investment banks in Europe and the US are sharing fees with medium-sized players. The market share of US investment banking fees of four major European banks are lower now than in 2010 — dropping from 21.1 to 17.3%. (Euromoney)

Pay at Moelis is dropping – it’s compensation ratio fell from 73% percent last year has dropped to 56% for the first nine months of 2015. All boutique banks pay out more than bigger firms.(Bloomberg

Morgan Stanley has hired Peter Chu from Goldman Sachs. He will be co-head of Asia Pacific TMT. (FinanceAsia)

Credit Suisse will be providing pay increases for its employees in Switzerland. The total salary amount increase for 2016 will be 0.75% for individual and performance-based salary.(Reuters)

The prospect of a US rates rise is making it safe to work for a macro hedge fund. (WSJ) 

Wealth managers want big data professionals too. (Euromoney) 

52 executives are leaving their jobs at state-owned lenders in China, including at Bank of China and Construction Bank of China. The resignations were blamed on stagnating salaries, the growth of internet financing companies, and opportunities in private banking. (AsiaOne)

John Hourican, a former RBS investment banker, was supposed to leave Bank of Cyprus, but is remaining for now. The earliest he will exit is February 2018. (Telegraph)

Quote of the Day

“We don’t have a culture, we have an attitude….Our attitude is every customer gets satisfied.” Charles Michael Cawley, founder of MBNA, who died last week.