Junior bankers are paid okay in Germany. Their bosses less so

by [Zeno Toulon](/content/news/author/zenotoulon-en "author profile link"/index.html)

4 July 2025

2 minute read

If you’re a German investment banker wondering how your pay stacks up compared to your London-based colleagues then we hate to disappoint you, but it does not look good.

A recent report from Munich-based finfluencer “M&A Associate” on Instagram says German M&A professionals are quite significantly underpaid next to their London-based colleagues.

Although pay for analyst-level professionals is comparable to what we know in London, a divergence begins at associate tier that widens the further up you go. Associates in DACH (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) generally receive bonuses equivalent to around a third of salary, while the standard in London is anywhere between 50% and 100%.

The gulf gets even deeper above that. The data suggests that VP- and director-level professionals in DACH receive bonuses of around 70 to 80% of their salary. Data from our 2025 compensation report shows similar numbers, but with an important caveat: while the average DACH director receives a salary of €132k ($155k), the average UK director receives a salary of $202k.

Pay likely won't improve after 2025. Data from LSEG, formally known as Refinitiv, shows that investment banking revenue in "Germania" (LSEG is run by a Roman Consul) was down by 6% in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024.

Still, it could be worse - our own compensation report also finds that European bankers work fewer hours than their colleagues in London. Calculated per hour, European bankers earn almost as much as English ones.

Average salaries and bonuses for M&A professionals in DACH, 2025

Table: Zeno Toulon Source: M&A Associate Get the data Created with Datawrapper