Evercore pay slumps as MD promotions rise
Boutique bank Evercore has announced its full year results for 2022.
After a disappointing third quarter, Evercore has closed out what will go down as a year to forget for the biggest boutique investment bank on Wall Street.
Pay at the bank rounded off the year at an average of $801k, compared to $948k in 2021. Although headcount at the firm rose slightly over the course of the year (from 1,950 to 2,120 people), the bank put falling compensation squarely down to “a lower accrual for incentive compensation,” or in old-speak, bonuses.
A small consolation for junior bankers, however, is a move towards higher salaries. In its statement to investors, Evercore said the fall in compensation was “partially offset by higher base salaries.”
Curiously, Evercore made 15 promotions to its Senior Managing Director rank last year – taking the total number of SMDs from 154 to 169 people, a rate of growth higher than the bank’s headcount. But title inflation is common at small banks with limited bonus pools. As the saying goes, “it’s cheaper to promote people than pay them”.
Also very curiously, the bank actually had a slight decrease in headcount over the fourth quarter – 40 people disappeared, an event that went unmentioned in the accompanying documentation.
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