Wall Street Bids Up Junior Banker Salaries in Battle for Talent

(Bloomberg) -- A full-scale bidding war has broken out on Wall Street, this time over young bankers, as firms struggle to attract and keep talent after the pandemic added to famously crushing workloads.

Citigroup Inc. became the latest bank to lift base salaries to $100,000 for its first-year analysts on Friday. It’s a figure Barclays Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Guggenheim Partners have also offered bankers at that level, as Wall Street more broadly tries to stem defections sparked by a deluge of deals amid the work-from-home grind.

The salary bumps may force other banks to step in line -- or risk losing out on top recruits, according to consultants and compensation experts. At bulge bracket firms, the standard base salary for a first-year analyst is about $85,000, according to estimates from Wall Street Prep, which provides courses and training for some of the biggest investment banks.

“There’s a lot of competition for the best people,” said Alan Johnson, managing director of the Wall Street compensation consultancy Johnson Associates. “I think everyone is going to be moving to $100,000 now.”

Other banks have announced pay hikes, one-time bonuses, all-expenses paid vacations or offered sleek fitness equipment to their junior rungs, in a bid to ease the recent pressures. The issue rose to the fore earlier this year when a presentation from a group of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts shed light on their 100-hour weeks and declining physical as well as mental health as market activity reached fever pitch.

“I could imagine that other banks will follow this in order not to be seen as far off market,” Anthony Keizner, a managing partner at the recruiting firm Odyssey Search Partners, said of the recent pay hikes. “In a competitive environment, the last thing you want to be known as is the under payer.”

Here’s a list of how banks are compensating their junior employees.

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