The gender pay gap in investment banks: The 2018 pay differential index
If you're a woman in banking and you want to maximize your chances of earning the same amount as a man, you might want to cast an eye over the 'gender pay gap' figures that banks in the UK are now compelled to provide to the British government. This is the second year that UK-based companies with over 250 employees have been mandated to release figures for their average pay for male and female employees and the results are...illuminating.
The newly released figures apply to 2018. As the chart below shows, companies are compelled to reveal the distribution of men and women in four pay quartiles - lower, lower middle, upper middle, and top. Somewhat predictably, women cluster in the bottom quartile and are significantly less represented towards top.
On average, based on the figures provided by the 31 banks listed in the charts below, the proportion of women in the lowest pay quartile exceeds the proportion of women in the highest pay quartile by 36 percentage points. We've used this difference to create the 'Pay Differential Index' in the second chart below. Banks which score above 100 on this index have a differential of more than 36 percentage points between women in the highest and lowest paid quartiles. Banks which score below 100 have a differential of less.
On this basis, some banks look a lot more favourable to women who want to become top earners than others. JPMorgan International Bank Limited has a gender pay differential that's less than one fifth of the average. By comparison, NM Rothschild & Sons has a gender pay differential that's nearly twice as big as the average bank.
Eagle-eyed observers will note that some banks feature multiple times on the charts below - and that the pay differential is different in each case. This is because the UK government takes its figures from UK registered companies - and some banks are registered multiple times, each with different entities. We've outlined what each entity does at the bottom of the page, based upon statements in their annual accounts.
If you want to have as much chance of working in the top paying jobs as in the bottom, the implication is that you should look at so-called 'infrastructure' or back-office jobs. As the chart at the bottom of the page shows, the gender pay gap is far smaller in Goldman Sachs' infrastructure business (Goldman Sachs SVC) than in its front office-focused business (Goldman Sachs International). The same applies for Morgan Stanley - the gender pay gap is lower at Morgan Stanley UK (Infrastructure) than at Morgan Stanley Employment Services (front office). Of course, everyone tends to earn less in infrastructure jobs anyway....
Primary function of each bank where multiple entities exist:
Bank of America Merrill Lynch International: Global banking and markets and support functions.
Credit Suisse UK Limited: Private bank
Credit Suisse International: Private banking, asset management, advisory.
Credit Suisse Securities Europe: Global markets
DB Group services: Deutsche Bank's operations in the UK, formerly known as Morgan Grenfell & Co.
Goldman Sachs UK SVC: Goldman Sachs support services
Goldman Sachs International: Investment banking, sales and trading, other activities.
J.P. Morgan Europe: Custody, payments.
J.P. Morgan International Bank Ltd: Private banking, wealth management
J.P. Morgan Ltd.: Investment banking division
Mizuho Bank: All Mizuho's activities.
Mizuho International: Just the investment bank.
Morgan Stanley Employment Services: Revenue-generating divisions
Morgan Stanley UK Limited: Infrastructure divisions
J.P. Morgan Securities Plc: Sales and trading
Merrill Lynch International: Global banking and markets
Societe Generale: All SocGen's operations in the UK
Societe Generale International Limited: Primarily fixed income trading
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