City juniors quids in

The average increase of 12 percent
for basic salaries. The average pay for junior City staff has risen
aggressively over the summer says Astbury Marsden, a leading financial services
recruitment firm.

According to Astbury Marsden,
average base salaries for City workers at Assistant Vice President (AVP) level
have increased by 12 percent from £62,945 to £70,480 over the last year. Up
until the last three months more junior staff have seen their pay lag behind
that of senior City staff. Astbury Marsden explains that the more senior staff
in investment banks have had their basic salaries increase by between 20
percent and 50 percent over the last year. However, much of that increase has
been part of a shift away from bonuses.

Jonathan
Nicholson, Managing Director at Astbury Marsden, says: “Up to now the big jumps
in pay created by the recovery in City recruitment have gone to the more senior
staff.” “Banks and fund managers have focused on getting in the more
experienced staff that have portable client bases, the proven
rainmakers and those with real rare niche skills that take years to develop.”

“The salary
inflation largely passed junior staff by but now those lower down the pyramid
are starting to see their wages grow significantly.” Jonathan Nicholson says
that one of the reasons why wages are rising so quickly for those staff with
below four years experience is that banks and financial institutions are now
beginning to suffer from shortages created by the cancellation of graduate and
MBA intakes during the credit crunch.

Adds
Jonathan: “There is a serious shortage of junior salespeople, analysts, and
other support functions and banks and fund managers are now having to pay
through the nose to get them.” Jonathan Nicholson says that these wage
increases are not taking place through company wide pay rises but through a
series of one off pay increases either to attract or retain individuals and
teams.

Says
Jonathan: “The junior staff have been pretty much ignored up until six months
ago and whilst all the banks are looking at keeping their compensation ratio
lean they need to deal with a rise in business volume as summer ends.”

*Job titles
may differ between organisations but “Vice-Presidents” or “Director” have, on
average, over six years experience. Staff will normally be appointed “Assistant
Vice-Presidents” with three to four years experience.

13 September 2010

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