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Higher salaries AND 18-24 month guarantees at BofA/Merrill

22 May 2009

Sarah Butcher

A few weeks ago we said that banks probably weren’t going to be increasing salaries, but now it looks like some of them are. In particular, BofA/Merrill appears to have increased its salaries already, with the result that its employees are rather pleased.

“Let’s just say that it’s very advantageous if you work here,” says one VP.

After multiple calls, we’ve elicited the following rough guidelines for how much salary a BofA/ML banker can expect to earn under the new system. If you work at either institution and think these are glaringly wrong (or can fill in the gap) please inform us instantly by saying so at the bottom of this post.

Newpay@BofA.

As well as increasing its salaries, BofA/Merrill is said to be offering long term retention packages to its most prized employees (many of whom have been leaving).

According to numerous headhunters, these comprise guarantees of minimum pay and bonus levels for the next 18-24 months. Front office bankers at the two firms can also take solace in the fact that most redundancies have now happened.

Citigroup is also said to be contemplating increasing salaries, and is expected to announce the results to a review at the end of May.

Comments (13)

these numbers are correct as of last week: ML: VP: £110k Director: £140k UBS: VP-equiv: £120k, up from £74k

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Comments (13)

  • assoc 3 was 50-65    ...some !! repeat some will see increses to 70-77, but certainly not all

    MAOBman 22 May 2009

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  • VPs getting £120 - in any bank - is about as likely as Michael Jackson performing more than half of his London gigs. What rubbish. £120k is an MD salary, and it will stay that way.

    Jessica 22 May 2009

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  • Front Office got their raises but what about Middle & Back Office staff, they will be left in the cold again

    BOA_BackOffice 22 May 2009

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  • I have a personal friend working as an analyst at ML. He is an ED. His new base salary is 150k.

    JUANJO54249 23 May 2009

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  • Associate 3 basic at ML in 2006 was 70k.

    Ex-ML 25 May 2009

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  • Ex-ML, what sort of loser is still an Associate in Yr3 and not been promoted to VP?

    25yo VP, looking muchly forward to a well-deserved £90k base ;-)

    25yo VP 26 May 2009

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  • Depends on the business ie VP in Custody will be earning less than in VP in fixed income sales. Though still don't quite understand the economics for all but the best producers. None of the banks mentioned are making money, all living of AIG CDS payouts and accounting trickery. There should be a huge downward pressure (and Governmental pressure) to get financial sector wages back down to those of other industries.

    Clar 26 May 2009

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  • these numbers are correct as of last week:
    ML:
    VP: £110k
    Director: £140k

    UBS:
    VP-equiv: £120k, up from £74k

    dd 26 May 2009

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  • @25yo VP - all of IBD at ML is forced to do 3yrs at Associate. They stopped promoting out-of-year in 2004/5, at least in London. Different story in Markets, which was always less than amusing for people who moved from one to the other: 30 yr old VPs sitting next to 25 yr old VPs.

    In any case, to describe anybody doing an Associate 3 year as a 'loser' is simply juvenile - the vast, vast majority of IBD people do it, and very few expect to make MD before 32 - 35. You simply don't have the right contacts book who can reliably provide you with the annual P&L you need to keep your job - not to mention the fact that individual profit attribution doesn't happen until Director / ED level in most cases, again unlike Markets.

    And not to sound juvenile myself, but if you are 'looking forward to a 90k base', you can't be doing that well at VP, where basic is a rounding error.

    Ex-ML 26 May 2009

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  • I confirm those salaries, at least in Front Office (equity derivatives).
    Director went from 110k-120k to 170k
    Not sure the bank was successful at cutting cost ...

    MLMLML 26 May 2009

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