Gender pay gap: Male traders get double the bonuses of women

Women also have to work two years longer than their male counterparts to reach the heights of managing director

Bad timing … it takes a woman two years longer than a man to become managing director of a bank (Getty)

Women in banking get paid lower bonuses and take longer to reach the highest echelons of the industry, new research has revealed.

Despite increased efforts by the Government, shareholders and trade unions to improve the perception and treatment of women in banking, there is still clear evidence of a significant gender gap.

The greatest difference between the sexes is in bonus payments. While men and women working a bank’s mergers and acquisitions department both now earn the same base salary of £160,000, the man receives an average bonus of £140,000, £29,000 more than a woman’s average annual bonus of £111,000.

Among traders the bonus gap is even more pronounced. A female trader’s bonus of £72,000 is less than half that of a male trader who gets an average £150,000, according to data compiled by Emolument.com for International Women’s Day.

Alice Leguay, co-founder and chief operating officer of the firm said: “While transparency in pay has come on by leaps and bounds in the financial services industry since 2008, there is still a clear pay gap between men and women, especially in the more opaque bonus component of remuneration.”

She said bonuses were “more discretionary” which made it “easier for banks to justify the difference” between what they give men and women.

“But women are generally more satisfied with their bonuses than men,” she added, “which probably reflects that they still push themselves forward less than men.”

Last month the Government published its latest thinking on “Closing the Gender Pay Gap” which paves the way for making all employers publish the difference between male and female pay and, to a limited extent, bonuses.

“It is very likely that banks may not be aware of the pay gap within their own firms until they analyse their pay information,” Ms Leguay said. “Providing transparency around pay, both for employers and employees, is the surest way to encourage professionals to question the gender pay gap and push employers to close it.”

Women also have to work two years longer than their male counterparts to reach the heights of managing director level in a UK bank, according to the research, which surveyed 4,700 frontline bankers. While it takes a man on average 17½ years to become managing director, it takes the equivalent woman 19½ years.

Lower down the pay grades its takes women on average an extra six months longer then men to make it to associate or vice-president, but the same length of time, 13½ years, to be made director.