Pay for risk & compliance professionals keeps falling. Even MDs earn $400k
Much has been made about the bonuses that bankers and traders earn, and my, how much they’ve grown. But financial services professionals have one group of colleagues that worked hard in 2025 – and saw their compensation cut rather dramatically.
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Our Compensation & Lifestyle Report 2026, which was based on a Q1 survey of over 2,700 financial services professionals, introduced a new reporting category: Finance, Risk, Operations and Compliance (FROC). FROC covers the major functions of an investment bank’s support staff - the middle office. It covers professionals who are neither revenue generating nor technologically focused.
In the FROC category, the salaries and bonuses are lower. And they’re also declining – according to respondents to our survey, total compensation in FROC was down 6% in 2025 compared to 2024, with a significant average salary fall (8% down) leading the charge, and an average bonus decrease of 0.4% adding insult to injury.
Compensation fell across the board for all ranks within FROC. The biggest decline – of nearly 40% - was for managing directors (MDs), who earned a total of $412k last year. “Bonus cut despite good corporate earnings,” said one finance/audit MD, based in Singapore, who responded to our survey. He reported a 20% decline in his bonus.
$412k for MDs sounds like a lot, but is low compared to front office roles such as investment banking or trading. VP traders responding to our survey earned more than that ($465k on average), as did director-level investment bankers ($568k on average).
Still, there was some optimism. Bonuses for associates in FROC were up by 7.8%, which was matched by a fall of 8.5% in salary. VP bonuses only fell by 7% from a low base, while salaries only fell by 1.9%. Director bonuses were up by 1.2%, with salaries down 6%.
Low compensation in FROC roles was driven, above all else, by low bonuses. The average FROC VP in our survey earned a bonus of just $18k, which was 23% of their base salary. The average banking and trading VP earned a bonus of $154k and $201k, which was 70% and 76% of their salaries, respectively.
“Minimal pay increase despite achieving targets and taking on more responsibilities,” said a London-based operations VP for an American bank. He was not satisfied with his pay. “More deliverables, but less compensation,” rued a Hong Kong-based peer working for a French bank.
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