Citigroup to raise base pay for junior bankers – memo

(Reuters) – Citigroup Inc will lift the base salaries of its junior investment bankers, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters days after media reports of a similar move by rival JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The memo, dated Friday, said the salary raises for program vice-presidents, associates and analysts in the Wall Street firm’s banking, capital markets and advisory (BCMA) division would be effective from July 1.

Wall Street banks have been rolling out incentives to younger staff after a group of first-year analysts at Goldman Sachs complained of long hours and “unrealistic deadlines” in an internal survey in March.

Citigroup will also continue to focus on wellness initiatives in the unit to ensure bankers have sufficient time off, BCMA co-heads Tyler Dickson and Manuel Falcó said in the memo.

The bank has previously said that most of the roles at Citi would be designated as “hybrid” post-pandemic, allowing employees to work from home for up to two days a week.

That was in contrast to rivals Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Group Inc which are envisioning a return to office like before the health crisis struck.

Citi’s pay raises were earlier reported by Insider, which also said on Monday that JPMorgan had raised base salaries for first-year analysts to $100,000 before bonus. (https://bit.ly/3dFly1x).

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)