Goldman Sachs' top London risk & compliance professionals earn $950k
American banks in London, we’ve established, pay their senior bankers and traders a lot.
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But not everyone earning the big bucks at a bank is necessarily a banker or trader. Quite a few are behind the revenue earners, working in areas like risk and compliance professionals.
Those people, categorized as those in “control” functions, are also part of the Pillar III disclosures that banks operating in Europe (including the UK) are obliged to disclose. And while they don’t earn as much money as their revenue-generating colleagues in the front-office, they’re still very well paid.
The chart below shows average salaries and bonuses for the most senior control staff who are designated as material risk takers at US banks subsidiaries* in London in 2023. Material risk takers are defined as professionals whose “professional activities have a material impact on the risk profile of the firm,” and automatically include all people who earn more than £660k ($837k) .
As the chart shows, Goldman Sachs' senior London risk and compliance staff are paid by far the most, at an average of $949k each in 2023, including a salary of $489k and a bonus of $461k. Bank of America's are paid the least at an average of $632k, including a salary of $379k and a bonus of $253k.
What's the cause of the discrepancy? It might have something to do with the fact that Goldman only has 14 control staff listed as MRTs while BofA has 63, implying that only Goldman's most senior control staff are included in the data. Equally, it may be due to the breadth of the businesses covered by London entities providing the figures: Goldman's control staff are likely related to the investment bank; BofA's are likely related to a broader array of units.
How much do you earn in risk and compliance if you're not at the top of the ladder? US banks aren't obliged to disclose this, and so choose not to. However, in our 2024 salary and bonus report, we found that control function professionals in risk & compliance earned between $90k and $540k in 2023, depending on seniority. Our data is worldwide, however.
How does pay for MDs in risk and compliance compare to the front office?
While pay for MRTs in control is high, it's a lot lower than for bankers and traders in the front office. On average, US banks paid control MRTs just 44% of the amount they paid front office MRTs in 2023. The discrepancy was mostly due to bonuses, but salaries were also lower across the board. The control MRTs also have comparatively great salary-to-bonus ratios, ranging between 63% at Morgan Stanley to 94.3%, at Goldman Sachs.
If you’re imagining a new career as a risk or compliance professional earning the big bucks, however, be aware that there are far fewer control MRTs than investment bank MRTs. At the lowest end of the scale in London, at Citi and Goldman, there were just 12 vs 14 control MRTs compared too 474 vs 507 investment bank ones, respectively. That’s a ratio of around 2.5% at the two banks.
*The following subsidiaries are referred to by the name of their parent companies above:
- Goldman Sachs: Goldman Sachs Group UK Limited
- JPMorgan: J.P. Morgan Securities plc.
- Morgan Stanley: Morgan Stanley International Limited Group
- Citi: Citigroup Global Markets Limited
- Bank of America: Merrill Lynch International (including its branches), Bank of America, N.A. London Branch, and Bank of America Europe Designated Activity Company London Branch.
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