Bankers don’t have talent – just lots of borrowed money

The claim that banks need to offer astronomical salaries and bonuses to attract the best talent is a myth, says Phil Oakley. Here's the proof.

Bankers receive far greater financial rewards than the majority of the population. We're not talking about people who work in the high street branches here - the average cost per employee at RBS's UK retail banking business is just over £30,000 -we're talking about investment bankers.

Total pay for employees at Barclays' investment bank for example, averaged £200,000 in 2011 (including average bonuses of £65,000). This is despite the fact that the whole UK banking sector benefits from an implicit, taxpayer-backed guarantee.

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Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.