Bank of America is paying bigger bonuses and smaller salaries in London
Bank of America posted pretty good results for 2025 as a whole. But, in London at least, BofA doesn't appear to have increased pay.
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Bank of America has disclosed figures for 2025 for its London-based material risk takers (MRTs), a regulatory invention that refers to employees whose “professional activities have a material impact on the risk profile of the firm,” as well as all those that earn over £660k ($891k).
Bank of America employed 354 investment banking (which includes both actual investment banking and trading) MRTs in London in 2025, an increase on the 341 it employed in 2024. It paid them slightly better. When salaries and bonuses are combined they received £1.27m ($1.71m) on average in 2025, vs £1.23m ($1.66m) on average in 2024.
However, the composition of pay changed during this period. Average salaries for BofA’s investment banking MRTs fell by 4% between 2024 and 2025, from £584k to £559k, but average bonuses at the bank rose by 11%, from £643k to £711k. The salary: bonus ratio for compensation therefore went from 48:52 to 44:56.
That change is almost certainly because of the lifting of the bonus cap in London. Since it was lifted last year, American banks have slowly decreased salaries for senior bankers and traders in the UK to match salaries in the USA, and to be able to offer more flexibility via bonuses.
It was a similarly balanced year for those earning above €1m ($1.17m). The number of people earning above €5m – the very best-paid – decreased from 12 to 10, but BofA paid a lot more people between €1m and €1.5m. In total, the number of €1m+ earners at the bank went from 213 to 212.
Because MRT-related disclosures automatically include people paid over a certain sum of money, it automatically includes all a bank's top performers, regardless of their title. An investment banking MD is certainly an MRT, yes – but at the same time, a sales & trading VP might also make the cut.
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