Some credit research analysts are earning $440k+ in London
European research analysts might have been mortally wounded as a collective back in 2018 by MiFID, but for those that are still in the industry now, the spoils can be very, very great.
A compensation report by recruitment consultancy Octavius Finance covering corporate credit analysts in London showed that they can earn anywhere from £61k ($81k) to £330k ($442k), or beyond, depending on seniority and employer.
The highest-paying employers of credit analysts are hedge funds. Hedge fund credit analyst juniors can earn earn anywhere between £96k ($129k) and £166k ($223k), according to Octavius Finance. At the bottom end, that means £80k salaries and 20% (of salary) bonuses, and at the top end, salaries of up to £95k and bonuses of 75% (of salary).
Experienced hedge fund credit analysts at director or portfolio manager tier can expect salaries of at least £150k, while bonuses are usually decided by a specific performance-based PnL agreement.
Octavius Finance noted that hiring has “strengthened” in the city recently, with juniors (those with less than seven years’ experience) particularly desired. Emerging markets experience is being prioritized.
Salaries in the industry have been flat over the last few years, and buy-side firms (asset managers and hedge funds) are differentiating themselves from banks by paying bigger bonuses. But Octavius Finance noted that, after bonus pools were “compressed” at large asset managers in 2022, they have yet to fully recover. Even hedge funds have been relying on salary uplifts rather than bonuses to attract banks analysts. Octavius Finance says moving from a bank to the buy-side comes with a salary uplift of up to 20%.
Demand for technically-capable juniors means the hiring process has become more complicated. There's a “notable shortage” in junior analysts with “robust” modelling skills, and quality concerns mean more technical tests and case study style interviews.
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