Asian banking bonuses might be low. But they have one key advantage

What’s the best place in the world to be paid a banking bonus? It depends. Do you think you have what it takes to earn a high one? If so, then go to Asia.

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Our 2024 Salary and Bonus Report said a lot about the financial services industry in Asia: for one, the fact that Asian bankers are significantly underpaid compared to their peers in Europe, the UK, or North America. But Asian bonuses have one thing that their global peers don’t: insane earning potential.

The table above shows the coefficient of variation (CV) for reported bonuses in key jurisdictions for the main ranks in an investment banking hierarchy. The implication of the numbers is simple – the higher the coefficient, the wider the range of bonuses that are paid in that particular jurisdiction. The lower the coefficient, the smaller the bonus range.

As the table shows, financial services professionals in Asia ranks have the good fortune of massive bonus variation. This applies across almost all ranks, but especially at analyst level (a generally variable rank). Analysts in Asia have the best opportunity to perform strongly and receive a big bonus for it.

Director level Asian bankers shined most. Directors had the highest bonus variability of their global peers; this is important because, while analysts generally don’t have a chance to prove themselves, directors do. High variability for directors implies that there is more scope to “eat what you kill” in Asia than anywhere else in the world.

The other big surprise in terms of variability was for VPs in London (although Asian VPs performed strongly here, too). VPs in London had huge bonus variability, particularly compared to VPs in the United States, which had the lowest bonus variability of any rank in any major jurisdiction. 

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