Risk and compliance professionals in London can earn seven figures

American banks pay their people very well. Everyone knows that. Over $2m in London for senior bankers, on average – and it’s not just bankers. Because their middle office colleagues in audit, risk, and compliance can also earn some very, very big bucks.

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These professionals are usually categorised as providing “control functions”. Pillar III disclosures made by banks note the compensation of these professionals, although their definition is rather blurry. The European Banking Authority (EBA) describes them in a certain way, the UK uses an older definition (from 2017 rather than 2021), and banks can expand their definition. At a minimum, “control functions” should always be assumed to refer to audit, risk, and compliance professionals.

Either way, there is money to be made in these roles. The chart below shows average salaries and bonuses for the most senior control staff who are designated as material risk takers (MRTs) at US banks subsidiaries in London in 2025.

MRTs are defined as professionals whose “professional activities have a material impact on the risk profile of the firm,” and automatically include all people who earn more than £660k ($837k). While there are many bankers or traders who fit this criteria automatically, but not a lot of risk and compliance professionals.

As the chart shows, Goldman Sachs' senior London risk and compliance staff are paid by far the most, earning more than $1m on average in 2025, comprising an average salary of $495k and an average bonus of $567k. The worst paid are at Citi, where they earned average total compensation of $586k, comprising average salaries of $371k and average bonuses of $214k.

There was also a very interesting discrepancy in how many control functions MRTs each bank employed. Bank of America registered 62 in London in 2025, while Citi had just 7. That’s likely related to the flexibility in definitions that the EBA guidelines suggest.

Away from MRTs, pay for people in control functions was, understandably, not as generous. Figures above come from our 2026 Salary & Bonus Report, which found that support functions – including operations – earned between $49k and $410k on average, depending on rank. Much of a support professional’s potential compensation growth came from their reaching VP and director ranks, when they more than doubled their previous earnings. It’s worth noting, however, that our data is worldwide and is not limited to just UK respondents.

Either way, control functions professionals earn much less than their front-office colleagues in investment banking or sales or trading do. Pillar III reports lump these all in together as “investment banking”, making a convenient front-office vs middle-office distinction.

For one, there are many more high-earning front-office professionals than control ones, even at Bank of America. They’re also paid much better, around twice as much on average, mostly owing to their ability to command larger bonuses.

It is important to note, however, that bonuses for control functions professionals are intentionally smaller than for front-office professionals. “The remuneration of employees engaged in control functions is determined independently from the businesses they support,” Barclays' 2025 Pillar III disclosure noted. “Remuneration for control function employees is less weighted towards variable remuneration compared to front-office employees.”

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