Average London M&A Senior Banker Bonus is £305,000

Senior mergers and acquisitions (M&A) bankers in London received a 1.6% year-on-year boost in bonuses which has resulted in an average £305,000 extra to take home in 2013.

According to London-based salary data specialist Emolument.com, the rise is M&A banker bonuses were seen across each and every pay grade, with junior bankers seeing the sharpest increase in extra rewards.

The data, which surveyed 626 bankers in Britain's capital city, revealed that bonuses rose by 23% for associate level staff, worth £59,400 on average each. Meanwhile, analysts also got an average 20% boost in bonuses of £12,000 for 2013.

Various other pay measurement surveys has revealed a major turnaround in bonus payments for financiers over the last year, especially for those in junior positions.

Entry-level investment banks take home an average of £100,000 in annual bonus payments for 2013, said one survey.

The starting salary for junior professionals in the hedge fund industry has risen for the third consecutive year and now stands at $335,000 for 2013.

The average compensation across the hedge fund industry rose by 5% to 10% in 2013.

Bonus Caps

However, the European Union has mirrored the banker bonus caps for fund managers in a bid to ensure less risk taking with Europe's financial system.

EU officials announced in a media statement that EU member states have up to 18 months to introduce the law, once it is formally signed off over the next two months, which will include a three year deferral of 40% of bonuses.

The European Parliament and European Commission will limit bankers' bonuses to 200% of their salary.

The law, which comes into force from January 2014 and will apply to bonuses paid in 2015, is intended to discourage irresponsible risk-taking and curb the bonus driven culture in banking following the financial crisis.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has yet to flesh out all the detail of the new rules, but the organisation said the cap would be applied to "risk-takers".

It added that any staff earning more than €500,000 a year are likely to be affected.