Is Luxembourg the best country for finance professionals?
With its business-friendly legislation, its alleged big paychecks and its culture of confidentiality, Luxembourg is viewed as a financier's safe-haven by the rest of Europe.
How is that reflected in finance professionals' earnings in Luxembourg?
In our latest study, we found that even though Luxembourg's relatively high base salaries and attractive work-life balance makes it an alluring location for finance professionals, Switzerland is one step ahead when it comes to pay. Findings are based on 3,082 European finance professionals.
Asset Management earnings
| Country | Salary (EUR) | Bonus (EUR) | Total (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 130,000 | 23,000 | 153,000 |
| UK | 94,000 | 37,000 | 131,000 |
| Ireland | 100,000 | 23,000 | 123,000 |
| Netherlands | 90,000 | 33,000 | 123,000 |
| Luxembourg | 99,000 | 14,000 | 113,000 |
| Germany | 92,000 | 19,000 | 111,000 |
| France | 76,000 | 25,000 | 101,000 |
| Belgium | 79,000 | 17,000 | 96,000 |
| Italy | 70,000 | 23,000 | 93,000 |
| Spain | 75,000 | 15,000 | 90,000 |
Not an incentive-based pay structure. In the asset management industry, Luxembourg rank only 5 out of 10 when it comes to pay. While employers in Luxembourg offer very competitive base salaries (Luxembourg ranks third in Europe at EUR99,000), bonuses only account for 12% of total compensation, the lowest percentage in Europe.
Middle & back office earnings
| Country | Salary (EUR) | Bonus (EUR) | Total (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 116,000 | 10,000 | 126,000 |
| Luxembourg | 93,000 | 7,500 | 100,500 |
| UK | 82,000 | 10,000 | 92,000 |
| Netherlands | 83,000 | 7,000 | 90,000 |
| Ireland | 67,000 | 4,500 | 71,500 |
| France | 55,000 | 7,500 | 62,500 |
| Belgium | 55,000 | 7,500 | 62,500 |
Middle & back office : a Luxembourg speciality. Thanks to its business-friendly laws, Luxembourg has historically been a place where banks have located their clearing and support functions. In countries where front office jobs and back office coexist, the latter is often poorly considered. In Luxembourg, however, most of the banking jobs are middle and back office functions: Luxembourg's middle & back office professionals are doing well at second place behind Switzerland.
Accounting & audit earnings
| Country | Salary (EUR) | Bonus (EUR) | Total (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 93,000 | 4,500 | 97,500 |
| Luxembourg | 48,000 | 2,500 | 50,500 |
| UK | 50,000 | 0 | 50,000 |
| France | 47,000 | 2,500 | 49,500 |
| Belgium | 48,000 | 0 | 48,000 |
| Netherlands | 43,000 | 1,400 | 44,400 |
| Ireland | 43,000 | 0 | 43,000 |
| Italy | 34,000 | 2,000 | 36,000 |
| Spain | 31,000 | 0 | 31,000 |
#1 in the EU? Accounting & Audit firms are well implemented in Luxembourg, with all of the Big 4 (PwC, EY, KPMG, Deloitte) competing to attract the best talent, pushing up compensation packages: Luxembourg accountants and auditors rank second in Europe, with a total compensation of EUR50,500.
...But not in Europe. Even though Luxembourg is ahead of most European countries when it comes to paying accountants and auditors, it lags behind Switzerland and its strong currency, which crushes competition: at EUR97,500, total compensation in Switzerland for senior consultants are almost twice as high as in Luxembourg.
How about work-life balance?
| Country | Awful | Satisfactory | Great |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg | 11% | 78% | 11% |
| Belgium | 18% | 46% | 36% |
| France | 29% | 44% | 27% |
| Switzerland | 33% | 45% | 22% |
| UK | 38% | 42% | 20% |
| Ireland | 38% | 44% | 18% |
| Italy | 44% | 50% | 6% |
| Germany | 45% | 45% | 10% |
| Netherlands | 47% | 20% | 33% |
| Spain | 55% | 30% | 15% |
Undisputed victory for Luxembourg. With 89% of Luxembourg professionals marking their work-life balance as great or satisfactory, Luxembourg is the clear European leader when it comes to quality of life in finance. A powerful statistic, especially considering the high ratio of middle and back office employees in this sample, which are professionals usually highly dissatisfied when it comes to work-life balance, having to stay behind after markets hours and bear huge pressure from their front office colleagues.
Rich in life. Despite a lack of aggressive bonus culture, and therefore few hopes of 'making it big' for Luxembourg finance professionals, relatively high and predictable salaries, as well as a healthy attitude to work-life balance, make Luxembourg an attractive European location, far from expensive financial centres such as London, Paris or Geneva while still offering extensive professional access to global employers in the financial sector.
Emolument provides bonus and salary statistics based on data submitted directly by professionals like you. It is free, anonymous, and already a trusted tool for thousands of professionals worldwide. Are you paid enough? Click here to find out now.
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