A lot of smaller banks can pay $1m+ in London too
How much do top bankers earn in London? Whether you work for a big American bank or a big European bank, it is a lot. But what if you work for – hold your breath now here – a smaller bank?
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Well, the answer is still a lot. We looked at Pillar 3 disclosures from four banks that have a smaller European footprint than the usual JPMorgan- or Barclays-scale players: Jefferies, Wells Fargo, Mizuho, and Nomura.
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.
Jefferies pay in London
Like the year before, Jefferies had the best paid MRTs in London across 2025. They earned over $1.7m on average in 2025 – but that was down significantly on what they made ($2m) in 2024.
This was primarily down to a decrease in salary, rather than bonus, although that decreased, too. Average salaries went from $1m to $814k between 2024 and 2025, while average bonuses went from $1m to $919k, on average. Jefferies have a 8x bonus cap implemented.
Wells Fargo pay in London
As in 2024, Wells Fargo had the worst-paid MRTs in London last year. But a hefty increase in both salary and bonus (up 22% and 39% on average) meant the discrepancy was less than before and that its MRTs averaged $1m in compensation, just a whisker behind Mizuho’s MRTs.
Wells Fargo offered the lowest salaries by some margin of the four banks we’ve compared here, just $450k on average, but sizeable bonuses: nearly $600k on average.
Mizuho pay in London
Mizuho paid its investment banking MRTs just $1.08m in 2025. A direct comparison to 2024 is not possible, as the firm did not disclose investment banking-specific compensation for that year.
Mizuho’s pay, despite being almost the same as Wells Fargo’s, was structured very differently. The firm paid average salaries almost $100k higher than Wells Fargo, and average bonuses almost $60k less.
Nomura pay in London
Investment banking MRT pay at Nomura increased between 2024 and 2025, going from $970k per head to $1.2m per head, overwhelmingly driven by an increase in average bonuses, which were up by 39%. The number of MRTs did decline, however, from 254 to 205.
Due to its number of MRTs, Nomura was the only bank that offered a breakdown of employees earning over €1m. While the total number of these earners increased by almost 13%, from 70 to 79, the vast majority were earning “just” €1m to €1.5m. The number earning over €1.5m actually decreased, from 34 to 32.
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