Banks almost tripled bonuses for junior staff to keep hold of their young employees

REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

Donations by devotees are seen on a statue of baby Jesus at a church during a special mass on Christmas day in Colombo December 25, 2013.

Banks hiked bonuses for the most junior employees as much as 150% in an effort to keep hold of young, talented employees.

Average bonuses for analysts - the first rung on the investment banking career ladder - zoomed up to £15,000 ($21,600) this year from £6,000, according to a survey by crowdsourced pay data website Emolument.com.

Meanwhile, more senior staff had their bonuses slashed.

Director-level payouts took a 33% hit, down from £150,000 to £100,000 on average.

Alice Leguay, co-founder at Emolument.com, said: "Inspiring Generation Z to take up a career in banking is a challenge, especially considering the serious downside and risk of being exposed to legal proceedings as regulation and legal enquiries come into play, the weight and stress of dealing with compliance processes and the lack of glamour of an industry largely held in contempt by the public and the press."

Here's the chart:

Emolument

The survey is based on responses from 2,500 employees working in the UK for JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and RBS.