Salaries and bonuses for top risktakers at Barclays, Deutsche Bank, UBS, and others
Everyone knows that bankers make a lot of money. But just how much money do the most senior bankers in the industry – managing directors and heads of desks – earn? As it turns out, a lot.
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The figures below were made public as part of the pay transparency requirements for various jurisdictions for 2025. The data mostly refers to salaries and bonuses for Material Risk Takers, or MRTs for short, defined as people whose “professional activities have a material impact on the risk profile of the firm,” per the UK’s FCA, while UBS data refers to Key Risk Takers (KRTs), a self-created categorization. All data is derived from each bank's Pillar 3 or annual report remuneration disclosures.
The primary difference between MRTs and KRTs is that MRT designation requires an employee to earn £660k to be automatically considered one, while KRT designation is related to role. Previously, it automatically included those who earned over CHF2.5m or $2.5m, but that is no longer the case.
Where possible, we've broken out the data for MRTs in the investment banks only (labelled as 'investment banking MRTs' in the reports). These are front office MRTs only, working in areas like M&A as well as capital markets and sales & trading. The figures therefore don't include MRTs in control functions like risk and compliance (for American banks’ control MRTs here), or pay for members of management committees. For BNP Paribas, the data covers risk-takers related to the Corporate and Investment Bank (“CIB”), as opposed to “investment banking”. For UBS, it is for all KRTs across the bank.
The data shows that pay for MRTs and KRts was mixed compared to 2024. Average compensation rose at Barclays and HSBC, was flat at UBS, and fell at Deutsche, SocGen, and BNP. Barclays and UBS paid their MRTs/KRTs the most; SocGen paid its MRTs the least.
Salaries and bonuses at Barclays in 2025
Number of regulated staff: There were 812 investment bank MRTs at Barclays in 2025.
Average salary: The average Barclays investment bank MRT earned $862k in fixed compensation in 2025.
Average bonus: The average Barclays investment bank MRT earned $1.2m in variable compensation in 2025.
Average compensation: The average Barclays investment bank MRT earned $2.1m in total compensation in 2025.
Bonus breakdown: The average Barclays MRT (including, but not limited to, the investment bank) earned just 50% of their bonus in cash (60% deferred); 50% were in shares (69% deferred).
Deferred bonus: The average Barclays MRT’s (including, but not limited to, the investment bank) bonus was 65% deferred (46% cash, 54% shares).
Average severance payment: Barclays fired 32 MRTs (including, but not limited to, the investment bank) in 2025, who received $227k each in severance, on average.
Changes in compensation, 2024 vs 2025: The number of investment bank MRTs rose from 783 to 812, a 4% increase. Average salaries went from $909k per head to $862k per head, a 5% decrease. Average bonuses went from $1.1m per head to $1.2m per head, a 12% increase. Compensation as a whole therefore went from $2.0m to $2.1m, a 4% increase.
Distribution of staff earning over €1m:
Salaries and bonuses at HSBC in 2025
Number of regulated staff: There were 511 investment bank MRTs at HSBC in 2025.
Average salary: The average HSBC investment bank MRT earned $584k in fixed compensation in 2025.
Average bonus: The average HSBC investment bank MRT earned $819k in variable compensation in 2025.
Average compensation: The average HSBC investment bank MRT earned $1.4m in total compensation in 2025.
Bonus breakdown: The average HSBC MRT (including, but not limited to, the investment bank) earned just 52% of their bonus in cash (42% deferred); 48% were in shares (56% deferred).
Deferred bonus: The average HSBC MRT’s (including, but not limited to, the investment bank) bonus was 49% deferred (44% cash, 55% shares).
Average severance payment: HSBC fired 135 MRTs (including, but not limited to, the investment bank) in 2025, who received $504k each in severance, on average.
Changes in compensation, 2024 vs 2025: The number of investment bank MRTs fell from 535 to 511, a 4% decrease. Average salaries went from $611k per head to $584k per head, a 4% decrease. Average bonuses went from $738k per head to $819k per head, an 11% increase. Compensation as a whole therefore went from $1.35m to $1.40m, a 4% increase.
Distribution of staff earning over €1m:
Salaries and bonuses at Deutsche Bank in 2025
Number of regulated staff: There were 668 investment bank MRTs at Deutsche Bank in 2025.
Average salary: The average Deutsche Bank investment bank MRT earned $853k in fixed compensation in 2025.
Average bonus: The average Deutsche Bank investment bank MRT earned $1.1m in variable compensation in 2025.
Average compensation: The average Deutsche Bank investment bank MRT earned $1.9m in total compensation in 2025.
Bonus breakdown: The average Deutsche Bank MRT (including, but not limited to, the investment bank) earned just 50% of their bonus in cash (74% deferred); 50% were in shares (80% deferred).
Deferred bonus: The average Deutsche Bank MRT’s (including, but not limited to, the investment bank) bonus was 77% deferred (48% cash, 52% shares).
Average severance payment: Deutsche Bank fired 48 MRTs (including, but not limited to, the investment bank) in 2025, who received $494k each in severance, on average.
Changes in compensation, 2024 vs 2025: The number of investment bank MRTs rose from 609 to 668, a 10% increase. Average salaries went from $957k per head to $853k per head, an 11% decrease. Average bonuses went from $1.11m per head to $1.09m per head, a 2% decrease. Compensation as a whole therefore went from $2.1m to $1.9m, a 6% decrease.
Distribution of staff earning over €1m:
Salaries and bonuses at BNP Paribas in 2025
Number of regulated staff: There were 909 CIB MRTs at BNP in 2025.
Average salary: The average BNP CIB MRT earned $553k in fixed compensation in 2025.
Average bonus: The average BNP CIB MRT earned $772k in variable compensation in 2025.
Average compensation: The average BNP CIB MRT earned $1.3m in total compensation in 2025.
Bonus breakdown: The average BNP CIB MRT earned just 49% of their bonus in cash (53% deferred); 49% were in shares (54% deferred).
Deferred bonus: The average BNP CIB MRT’s bonus was 54% deferred (49% cash, 49% shares).
Average severance payment: BNP fired 39 MRTs (including, but not limited to, the CIB) in 2025, who received $473k each in severance, on average.
Changes in compensation, 2024 vs 2025: The number of CIB MRTs rose from 824 to 909, a 10% increase. Average salaries went from $576k per head to $553k per head, a 4% decrease. Average bonuses went from $781k per head to $772k per head, a 1% decrease. Compensation as a whole therefore went from $1.4m to $1.3m, a 2% decrease.
Distribution of staff earning over €1m:
Salaries and bonuses at Société Générale in 2025
Number of regulated staff: There were 384 investment bank MRTs at SocGen in 2025.
Average salary: The average SocGen investment bank MRT earned $496k in fixed compensation in 2025.
Average bonus: The average SocGen investment bank MRT earned $692k in variable compensation in 2025.
Average compensation: The average SocGen investment bank MRT earned $1.2m in total compensation in 2025.
Bonus breakdown: The average SocGen investment bank MRT earned just 50% of their bonus in cash (57% deferred); 50% were in shares (57% deferred).
Deferred bonus: The average SocGen investment bank MRT’s bonus was 57% deferred (50% cash, 50% shares).
Average severance payment: SocGen fired 10 MRTs (including, but not limited to, the investment bank) in 2025, who received $983k each in severance, on average.
Changes in compensation, 2024 vs 2025: The number of investment bank MRTs rose from 347 to 384, an 11% increase. Average salaries went from $518k per head to $496k per head, a 4% decrease. Average bonuses went from $711k per head to $692k per head, a 3% decrease. Compensation as a whole therefore went from $1.23m to $1.19m, a 3% decrease.
Distribution of staff earning over €1m:
Salaries and bonuses at UBS in 2025
Number of regulated staff: There were 755 KRTs at UBS in 2025.
Average salary: The average UBS KRT earned $646k in fixed compensation in 2025.
Average bonus: The average UBS KRT earned $1.4m in variable compensation in 2025.
Average compensation: The average UBS KRT earned $2.1m in total compensation in 2025.
Bonus breakdown: The average UBS KRT earned just 43% of their bonus in cash (none deferred); 57% were in shares (100% deferred).
Deferred bonus: The average UBS KRT’s bonus was 57% deferred (100% shares).
Changes in compensation, 2024 vs 2025: The number of KRTs fell from 835 to 755, a 10% decrease. Average salaries went from $659k per head to $646k per head, a 2% decrease. Average bonuses went from $1.38m per head to $1.41m per head, a 2% increase. Compensation as a whole therefore went from $2.0m to $2.1m, a 1% increase.
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