Credit crisis savages US traders’ salaries

Source: Exec Digital USA

Date :3/31/2008 7:20:34 AM

Pay packages in the credit and debt markets plummeted by 60 percent as Wall Street is hit hard by the credit crunch, Napier Scott has revealed.

This announcement in the annual survey highlights the scale of the recent global economic difficulties, with equivalent traders in London suffering pay cuts averaging 40 percent.

Commenting on the state of the market in the UK, Napier Scott CEO Shaun Springer said: “The biggest falls occurred in the debt and credit markets. Tier 1 managing directors have received packages of £685,000 ($1.3 million), which are down £290,000 ($580,000) on the previous year.”

This, however, is still higher than the $1 million paid to their counterparts in the US.

High performers

Mr. Springer however added that some traders were still experiencing high salaries, with figures in excess of $2.5 million, largely in equity derivative sales and exotic credit trading.

The survey - now in its seventh year - was conducted among more than 3,000 front office trades covering international markets.

Performance in Asian trading was amongst the best, with managing directors in exotic trading and credit restructuring at top banks enjoying the highest levels of remuneration.

“This was due to intense competition for talent and the Asia region relatively less battered by the credit crisis,” explained Mr. Springer.

In fact, the Middle East showed the biggest growth in pay for the second consecutive year, with packages rising 10-20 percent, albeit from a lower international base.

This news arrives as the Federal Bank once again takes steps to stabilise the economy and ease the effects of the global credit crisis, by proposing the implementation of a regulatory blueprint. This proposal would see the Fed become a “market stability regulator”, in which it tightens centralised control.

March 31, 2008