Why Singapore bankers complain about inflation
If you work in banking in Singapore and are struggling to pay your bills, recruitment firm Morgan McKinley will help you understand why.
As we reported earlier this week, Morgan McKinley has just issued its salary survey for 2023-'24.
While Singapore bankers are not badly paid, Morgan McKinley's salary surveys for previous years reflect the failure of most Singaporean banker salaries to keep pace with inflation.
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The chart below shows salaries for Singaporeans working in M&A, equity capital markets and debt capital markets in 2019 and now, per Morgan McKinley's survey.
It shows the amount bankers should be paid in 2023-24 if their salaries kept pace with inflation, as measured by the Singapore Monetary Authority's inflation calculation app and this year's 4.7% inflation rate through to October.
There is a significant shortfall at almost every level, except for managing directors' whose salaries have increased in real terms...The shortfall is particularly significant at analyst level, where salaries are now over a third lower than they should be if they'd kept pace with the cost of living.
The data comes as Singapore has emerged as one of the most expensive places to live in the world, behind Zurich. While bankers are paid more than most people, the implication is that their woes are real: they have a lot less to spend than before, unless they're MDs.
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