BNP Paribas' top bankers & traders had a 10% bonus hike last year, or not

It's not just BNP Paribas' first quarter results that are out this month. The French bank also released its compensation report for last year. 

Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.

The report suggests bonuses for senior bankers and traders classified as material risk-takers (MRTs) at BNP Paribas may not have been as bad as feared. The average MRT bonus in the corporate and investment bank (CIB) rose 10% to €678k ($771k). However, the average may be misleading: BNP cut its CIB MRT population from 877 people in 2023 to 824 people in 2024, with the implication that the group comprised higher earners than before.

 When salaries and bonuses are combined, the average MRT at BNP Paribas' CIB earned €1.1m ($1.3m) last year. At Morgan Stanley in London, MRTs were paid $2m for 2024.

There are indications that BNP's largesse was skewed to its very highest earners. In fact, the bank said that only 439 people across the bank earned over €1m last year, implying that around half the investment bank's MRTs earned less than this. 31 people across the bank earned over €3m, compared to 24 people in that pay bracket in 2023. 

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, WhatsApp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signal also available.

Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libellous (in which case it won’t.)

Photo by bruno neurath-wilson on Unsplash