Compliance and control professionals in London are seriously underpaid

Today's report from the European Banking Authority (EBA) offers a startling revelation alongside the not-so-startling figures showing that the largest number of finance professionals earning €1m in Europe resides in the UK. - It's that London-based control staff in financial services don't earn much, comparatively speaking.

While the highest paid investment banking professionals in Europe are located in London, the same cannot be said for the highest paid people working in 'Independent Control Functions' (eg. risk and compliance) in Europe's banks. They're located in Germany, followed by Spain.

More importantly, the EBA's figures show that in both Germany and Spain, the average high earning people in the Independent Control Functions earn more than the average high earning people in investment banking roles.

For example, average pay for high- earning investment bankers in Germany is €1.6m. And average pay for high-earning German control staff is 16% higher at €1.9m.

As the chart below shows, across Europe's major financial centres, it's the London-based control staff who are paid the least compared to the investment bankers. Time for London-based control staff to ask for a pay rise?

Photo credit: Malchev/istock