Goldman Sachs always pays a group of London MDs $9.5m+ each
If you work for Goldman Sachs, you’re used to big compensation – the firm paid out $359k globally on average and $764k in London specifically. If you’re part of a select clique in that city, however, that might be pocket change for you.
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2024 Pillar III accounts were released this week for the firm's main operating subsidiary in London - Goldman Sachs Group UK. The accounts include pay for individuals regulatory defined as “Material Risk Takers”, or MRTs for short. They often include high-performing traders and investment banking managing directors (MDs).
The accounts show that Goldman consistently pays a group of its top people in London over €8m ($9.44m). There were 13 in total in 2024, compared to 12 in 2023 and 14 in 2022. In 2021, a blockbuster year for investment banking revenue, there were 23. Goldman isn’t obliged to name these top performers (or any MRTs in general), but likely includes many of its group leaders and star traders.
The rest of Goldman's London managing directors aren't paid badly either. European regulations oblige Goldman to disclose how many people it employed that earned over €1m specifically. There were 305 of those people in 2024, up from the 297 it had in 2023, and slightly down on the 308 it had 2022.
Goldman Sachs Group UK had 3,614 people in London at the end of 2024, and those people earned $764k on average across the year. The firm’s 542 investment bank MRTs, however, earned an average of $1.7m each, of which $698k was in salaries (down 21% on last year) and $968k was in bonuses (up 39% on last year), likely as a result of the lifting of the European bonus cap.
Both the number of investment bank MRTs and their pay went up compared to 2023. In that year, there were 507, and they were paid $1.6m on average. In 2022 there were 569, who were paid an average of $1.5m each.
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