Throughout 2024, Extel asked global equity investors about their current salaries and bonuses. The data has been provided by contributors to our surveys and is entirely anonymous. Inputs have been standardized to USD and aggregated to compile the report, which highlights compensation trends across roles, regions, firm types, firm sizes, and experience. We will continue to monitor buy-side compensation in the years to come.

Some interesting findings:

• U.S. portfolio manager and analyst salaries are around 33% higher on average than their coworkers in the UK, Europe, and HK.
• When looking at trader salaries, the gap between regions narrows to around 20% on average. 
• In the U.S. and the U.K., long-only salaries and hedge fund salaries are relatively equal on average. However, hedge fund bonuses are 2 to 3 times higher than those at long-only firms, and up to 4-5 times higher for some positions.
• In regards to salaries in the U.S., the size of the firm (commission spend) shows little correlation across positions in regards to salary. Bonuses, on average, we see larger firms pay more.
• Rightfully so, the experience level of respondents had the strongest correlation to a higher salary. PMs with 20+ years of experience cited salaries 50% higher on average than peers with less than 5 years. Bonuses followed suit, albeit to a lesser degree.

"Despite the world being as connected as ever, compensation variation exists for buy-side investors. Our new report hopes to shine a light on some of these differentiating factors, and allow buy-side Portfolio Managers, Analysts, and Traders, to accurately benchmark their compensation" said Will Llamas, Extel's Trading Lead.

For more information and to receive a copy of the report, contact Will Llamas on +1 212 224 3178 or will.llamas@extelinsights.com.