The highest paid bankers work in these sector teams

If you wanted to get paid as an investment banker for the past year, some sector teams seem to have been a better bet than others. New research from US recruitment firm Prospect Rock Partners suggests that bankers in technology media and telecoms (TMT) teams generally earned the most. Bankers working in teams like energy or industrials typically earned the least.

Prospect Rock's figures for average total compensation (salaries plus bonuses) at different levels of seniority are shown in the table below. On average, they say that associates in US banking earned $343k last year, vice presidents (VPs) earned $523k and directors earned $706k. However, some teams were more lucrative than the rest.

(If you can't see this chart in full on your mobile phone, please check on a desktop computer. We're having display problems!) 

As the chart shows, TMT bankers earned above the average at all but associate level. Industrials bankers earned more than peers across the board. Financial institutions group (FIG) bankers earned less too, which is ironic given their reputation for very hard work. Healthcare bankers were close to the norm. Energy bankers look underpaid at associate and director level.

The figures are skewed by a few rogue numbers: leveraged finance compensation at director level reflects a few abnormally well paid individuals. At associate and VP level, leveraged finance bankers earned less than the rest. 

"Despite a slowdown in M&A activity, tech [M&A] continued to pay at the top end of the bonus range," says Prospect Rock managing director, Meridith Fiedler Dennes. "Given the high interest rate environment, LevFin deal flow continued to be sluggish. As such bonuses dropped considerably."

Better pay may be coming. Dealogic says leveraged finance deals picked up dramatically in the first quarter of 2024. Year-on-year, however, Dealogic says revenues from technology banking deals were down more than 10%.

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