Which European investment bank pays the most?

Now that all the major European investment banks have divulged their results for 2015, we've got a fair idea which ones are most generous to employees. The answer appears to be... the Swiss.

As the chart below shows, on a simple 'average pay per head in the investment bank' basis, UBS and Credit Suisse look substantially more generous than Barclays and Deutsche, with UBS seemingly being by far the most generous of the lot.

This may be flattering, however: UBS's figures are for its front office bankers alone, whereas Deutsche Bank's and Barclays' cover all front office bankers and middle and back office staff and (in the case of Deutsche), corporate bankers too. The Swiss banks are also flattered by a strong exchange rate, whereas Barclays (which reports in pounds), is not.

Nonetheless, there may be something in the rule of thumb that says Swiss banks pay the most. As the charts below from pay bench-marking company Emolument.com show, the Swiss investment banks do indeed appear to be the most beneficent towards employees, whereas British banks like Barclays (and RBS - which doesn't break out pay per head) pay less.

However, French banks like SocGen and BNP Paribas, which also don't break out pay per head in their annual reports, often pay even less still.

The anomaly in Emolument's figures is clearly Deutsche Bank. Instead of earning towards the bottom of the European hierarchy, Emolument suggests that Deutsche's London-based front office bankers are generally paid on a par with their Swiss counterparts. And at director level, Deutsche's bankers earn the most out of everyone.

Photo credit: European Flag by Rock Cohen