Friday, August 22, 2014

London hedge fund executives see pay packets halve as bonuses plummet

Hedge fund executives in London saw bonuses plummet last year, resulting in their pay packets being less than half of what they were 12 months ago.

The average bonus paid to a partner or a managing director of a London-based hedge fund stood at £1,236,000 in 2012/13 but this has fallen to £459,000 in 2013/14.

Coupled with a decline in base salaries, total compensation packages are down almost £1m to £660,000.

The details from Emolument.com, a company that analyses salary rates, show there has been huge volatility in what hedge fund professionals are paid, although the most acute changes have been among the high earners.

In 2012/13, the average senior hedge fund professional earned £361,000 in salary and £1,236,000 in bonus, leading to a total package of £1,597,000.

This has dropped to an average salary of £201,000 and a bonus of £459,000 this year – an average compensation of £660,000.

While there has been a sharp slump over the last year, 2014 compensation packages are still more than in 2012 however when the average was £485,000. The figures were collated by using data that was contributed anonymously.

Despite the sharp year on year decline in their overall packages, partners and managing directors still earn almost three times what mid-ranking employees take home.

Directors and vice-presidents in hedge funds now earn an average of £226,000 compared with £307,000 two years ago. It is however an increase on last year, when the average person surveyed in that bracket earned £196,000.

theguardian.com

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