Hedge Fund bonuses grew by 48% YoY, the financial services industry’s highest increase, with senior positions averaging $1.8m in payouts, defying the growing economic uncertainty over the last financial year, according to new research by eFinancial Careers.

Informed by a global study of over 2,500 financial services professionals comparing the compensation and lifestyles between the world’s major financial centres and leading banks, eFinancialCareers' latest Compensation & Lifestyle Report, also reveals that private equity equity professionals saw an average 46% increase.

In absolute terms though, PE payouts were dwarfed in comparison to hedge funds, with the latter cashing in average bonuses of $453,167 compared to just $81,415 in Private Equity (not factoring in carried interest).

In both professions, the high YoY increases were largely driven by junior levels, as analysts in private equity saw a 111% bonus increase, while hedge Fund analysts experienced an even greater jump of 133%.

The most striking contrast between the two sectors emerges at the senior levels, with Managing Directors in private equity earning an average bonus of $328,600 in 2024 while their hedge fund counterparts earned an average bonus of $1,805,417.

Higher bonus payouts follow the early lifting of the European bonus cap in London, with this years’ round seeing YoY increases of 26% in the UK, beating the bonus increases seen in APAC (+22%), Europe (+19%) and North America (+18%). Financial services performed strongly not just in the UK, but globally, with bonuses across the industry up by 22% since last year.