The revenues you must generate to be average at top banks

The last time we released figures for revenues per head in investment banks, eyebrows were raised in some quarters. They were too low, said critics. 

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We now have new figures and while they may only be estimates, they suggest how much you must generate to be merely average across banking divisions, broadly defined. They also suggest that by this measure 2024 was a fine time to work in the investment banking division of a big bank. 

BCG Expand's figures, shown in the table below, reflect its estimates for average revenues per head at the top 10 investment banks, based upon its own research. It says front office revenues per head across combined M&A and equity and debt capital markets divisions rose by nearly 50% last year, to $2.8m each, their highest level since 2022. Equities sales and trading rose 15% to $4.5m each. Only fixed income trading revenues stagnated. 

Does this mean you need to generate $2.8m in revenues to keep your investment banking job in 2025? And that equities and fixed income salespeople need to generate $4.5m and $5.8m each respectively?

Not exactly. BCG Expand's categories are too broad to be very meaningful, and they cover people across at levels of seniority and in all regions. At best, they are an indication of what a vice president in a broadly defined division might expect to generate. However, they indicate the direction of travel. - If you work for a bank where bonus pools weren't up across IBD or equities sales and trading last year, something was up. 

Within sales and trading, BCG says revenues increased the most dramatically in equity derivatives sales and trading last year. They fell in commodities and G10 rates trading. 

Different traded products have differing levels of electronification. Credit trades conducted electronically fell last year, according to BCG Expand. By comparison, electronic trading increased dramatically in commodities as revenues fell, implying that productivity per human commodities trader may even have increased last year.

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