The hardest-working bankers in the world are in French banks. The best paid aren't

Our Compensation & Lifestyle Report 2026 threw out some interesting statistics. For example, we discovered that Goldman Sachs employed the healthiest bankers in the world, and that commodities traders had the most laid-back jobs in the industry. We also learned which financial services professionals work the longest hours – and which ones paid the most for those hours.

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On average, respondents to our survey reported working 45.9 hours a week in 2025 – a tiny 2% increase on the 45 hours they worked on average in 2024. There was a significant variation, however, between how demanding each employer was of its employees.

The most demanding, by some margin, was French bank BNP Paribas, where respondents to our survey worked for almost 60 hours on average. That was a substantial (7.7%) increase on the 54.9 hours BNP people said they worked on average in 2024. Respondents working at BNP Paribas also reported below-average mental and physical health scores.

One respondent to our survey – a BNP risk director based in Singapore – said that he had “more work, less rest, and no salary increase,” citing his mental health as a 4/10. “I have to work extra time for other income source for my increasing daily expenses,” he added. He earned approximately $196k in salary alone for 2025, which he noted was flat for the last four years.

The lowest working hours were to be found at UK bank HSBC, who worked an average of just 44.5 hours per week, nearly an entire part-time worker’s difference to BNP Paribas. Not surprisingly, HSBC respondents to our survey noted that they had strong health scores, especially physical health.

One HSBC VP responding to our survey, who worked in the firm’s asset management arm in Hong Kong, said that the 45 hours a week he had to work meant “more time spent in sports.” He noted that “mental health factors barely change,” and scored both his mental and physical health as a 10 out of 10.

The best paid-people in our report this year are people who work at boutique banks. This is a broad category with no clear definition, but generally includes small investment banks that only offer investment banking services – although many are now also offering asset management services. In our report, it includes respondents who worked at Evercore, Moelis, Natixis, Rothschild, Piper Sandler, and William Blair.

Respondents who worked at boutique banks reported earning salaries of $378k, bonuses of $336k, and total compensation of $714k on average. Compared to 2024, their salaries were flat, and their bonuses increased by 25%. Interestingly, despite the huge packages, only 38% of boutique bankers in our survey thought they were paid fairly, compared to 28% globally.

The worst paid bankers in our survey were those at HSBC (incidentally, the bank that noted the lowest working hours). Respondents to our survey who worked for HSBC noted that they earned average salaries of $124k, and earned average bonuses of $83k. These figures were up 1% and 11% on last year, respectively.

The luckiest bankers – those whose saw the largest compensation increases – were at Deutsche Bank, where salaries increased by 18% across 2025 to $207k and bonuses increased by 49% to $187k. Total compensation at the German bank averaged $394k for 2025, an increase of 31% on the prior year.

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