Bonuses rocket for banks’ risk controllers as new rules kick in
RISK controllers at major banks and finance houses were typically paid more than £100,000 last year, Emolument.com revealed yesterday.
Salaries are rising slowly, but risk and compliance staff have seen their bonuses rise sharply, as top banks and other financial institutions demand more from the professionals.
Increased tiers of regulation, combined with the after-effects of a series of scandals have increased demand for the risk officers, driving up remuneration sharply.
By contrast banks have tried to cut back bonus pools for staff in more glamorous areas to control costs.
Almost 600 risk staff have reported their pay and bonuses to the benchmarking website.
Average salaries at top banks edged up from £83,000 to £85,000 from 2012 to 2014. But over the same two-year period, bonuses have more than doubled from £10,000 to £25,000 on average.
The jump leaves total remuneration packages at an average of £110,000.
For financial services risk controllers more broadly, salaries stand at £90,000 and bonuses at an average of £16,000.
“With a dearth of seasoned risk professionals, managers can name their terms, especially when it comes to bonuses,” said Emolument.com’s chief executive Thomas Drewry.
“Over the last few years, risk teams leaped to the fore when some institutions came close to collapse and showed just how valuable they could be, and have been hot property ever since, which is reflected in their pay.”