HK bankers got biggest bonus rise last year

Hong Kong-based bankers got an average bonus jump of 25 percent for 2010, nearly double the increase received by counterparts in Singapore, as the Chinese territory enjoyed a record year for IPOs, jobs portal eFinancialCareers said on Tuesday.

Bankers in Australia saw an average 13 percent rise in bonus, similar to Singapore and well above the 5 percent average increase in Britain. Those in the United States were the worst off with a 5 percent drop in average bonus, according to a global survey by the jobs portal.

The survey, which took place between January 4 and February 14 this year, collected responses from 6,364 financial markets professionals in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the United States and Britain.

‘Hong Kong is perhaps more front-office driven and they had a record year in terms of IPOs and activities coming out of China,’ eFinancialCareers’ Asia Pacific head George McFerran said at a media briefing.

‘That probably fuelled the greater bonus increase in Hong Kong versus Singapore.’ Hong Kong’s stock market last year raised HK$445 billion (S$72 billion) via initial public offerings, higher than anywhere else in the world. The Singapore Exchange, in contrast, managed just $11 billion.

Despite the higher bonuses, eFinancialCareers said 49 percent of Singapore bankers and 45 percent of Hong Kong bankers indicated that they were looking to change firms this year.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Money/Story/STIStory_647885.html

 

Category: Hong Kong