Top Goldman Sachs bankers are the best paid in the UK, earning £3m

It's official: Goldman Sachs workers were the best paid bankers in the UK in 2013, according to analysis by the Financial Times. 

 

Goldman paid its top 121 UK-based employees £3m a piece on average, of which 85 per cent came in the form of bonuses. The 121 are so-called “code” employees, meaning their earnings must be reported to the Financial Conduct Authority. 

 

The FT also revealed that the top five banks – Goldman, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase Citigroup and Bank of America Merrill Lynch – paid out a whopping £1.3bn between them.

 

The 121 top earners are all covered by the Financial Conduct Authority’s code on bankers’ remuneration, and hold top positions or roles that involve risk taking. 

 

Interestingly, the five banks paid out an average of 5.5 times employees' base salaries in bonuses, with only Citigroup’s payments falling in line with the new EU bonus cap, which will apply to payments made for work completed in 2014. Citi’s bonus payments amounted to 1.6 times the average salary among “code” individuals.

 

The average is slightly misleading however, with the top four earners making far more than the average. Michael Sherwood, the group vice-chairman, was paid £12.8m in 2013. He is thought to be Britain's best-paid banker.