Hong Kong financial service professionals recorded bonus increase of 40%, highest across APAC

Singapore's bonus payouts were less lucrative in comparison, with professionals in the city seeing bonus increases of 25%.

Despite the shadow of financial and political uncertainties, financial service professionals in Hong Kong still received the biggest bonus increase in the APAC region by 40% YoY, according to the latest Compensation & Lifestyle Report by eFinancialCareers.

Having examined the compensation and lifestyles of over 2,500 financial services professionals from major financial centres and leading banks worldwide, the report found that both Hong Kong and Singapore outscored the global average bonus increase of 22%.

For the 2024 bonus round, Hong Kong secured an average YoY bonus increase of 40%, the highest in the APAC region. Its counterpart Singapore, however, had a less lucrative bonus round across all levels, with professionals in the city seeing bonus increases of 25%.

Hong Kong’s strong performance was largely driven by the senior levels, who recorded bonus increases of 102%. In contrast, directors and managing directors in Singapore only saw increases of 35% and 12.8% respectively.

Financial services compensation in Hong Kong and Singapore

Globally, the UK recorded the highest bonus payouts across all markets, averaging US$148,961. This exceeded the bonus payouts in North America (US$145,817), Europe (US$108,522), and APAC (US$48,880).

Bonus increases in the UK represented a 26% rise YoY, outpacing those seen in APAC (+22%), Europe (+19%), and North America (+18%).

Compensation by location UK, US, Europe, APAC in 2024

When comparing sectors, professionals in hedge funds and those in private equity enjoyed the strongest YoY bonus rises, with a 48% and 46% increase respectively. However, in absolute terms, private equity payouts were dwarfed in comparison to hedge funds, with the latter cashing in average bonuses of US$453,167 compared to just US$81,415 in private equity.

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 emerged at the senior level. Managing directors in private equity earned an average bonus of US$328,600 in 2024, while their hedge fund counterparts earned an average bonus of US$1,805,417.

Financial services compensation by sector in 2024 vs 2023 (US$)

Interestingly, greater compensation didn’t come with increased working hours. The report revealed that overall working hours only saw a marginal increase of 0.6%, with 13 out of 21 financial services sectors reporting a decrease in hours worked compared to the previous year, including investment banking, M&A, and private equity.

More encouragingly, alongside significant pay rises, professionals also reported improvements in their mental and physical health in comparison to last year.

On average, respondents rated their mental health at 6.9 out of 10, and their physical health at 7.2 out of 10. Last year, they rated themselves at 6.0 and 6.5, respectively.

All charts / eFinancialCareers