SVPs in banks
 

Hi, just a curious question.

Is it true that Senior Vice Presidents (SVP) earn between 200k and 300k SGD in banks in Singapore? Seems there is not much difference between local banks and foreign banks, and between front office non-sales and trading roles and middle / back office roles.

I was under the impression that SVPs in banking earn at least half a million dollars all-in every year.

It is not true, SVP is 300k and above. SVP is not a joke rank that most average workers end up retiring in after 40 years of service. Only the very best make it to SVP and beyond for a cushy 10 years before retirement.

hi, may i know what would most average bankers end up at? AVP / VP?

or any other in between ranks below SVP

Also, what would be the salary band for AVP and VP?

The average graduate bank employee will end up being a VP at his/her peak. It's obvious not everyone can become an SVP or MD because there are only a limited number of such positions, just as there's only one CEO. And this is assuming he/she doesn't get retrenched along the way.

Very true.

No worries though, as there are many VP positions to go around for the good performers. The differentiating factor is how early you make VP. Above average performers make VP in their late 30s/early 40s, where most will "languish" until retirement, slowly climbing up the VP grades every few years.

Out of these guys will be some top performers who will rise to SVP, maybe even get a shot at chairman or CEO. These guys will make SVP in their late 40s/early 50s, from there on it's a combination of luck and politics to go any higher. Let's face it, the top posts usually end up with people who are well liked by their peers.

At the other end of the spectrum you have the average performers. These guys end up floating around as AVPs during their "golden years", not too shabby as you have some subordinates, but also have to deal with bosses. It's your classic middle management - not high enough to make major decisions, yet not low enough to avoid major responsibility. Expect to be here anytime from early 30s to late 40s. With a final push you should slide into a VP role in late 40s, where you will stay until retirement.

I was a high flyer. Retired in my 40s.

thanks for this!!

in that case, how much are we looking at in terms of salary for AVP and VP (on average across different depts)?

monthly / per annum

I can give a range where you guys can take as a pinch of salt.
Bringing context that we are talking about average/slightly good performer, not top performer or high flyer.

For SVP in local bank, these are some of the traits they will usually have:
1) Usually mid 40s onwards
2) Annual Package usually 230k onwards
3) Responsibilities usually covers a "big team" which the Bank defines it as important enough to have a SVP, otherwise smaller team will usually have a VP at most for Managers.

Answering to TS (quek) question, yes, typically SVP in Banks do really earn between 200-300k annual package range, which includes basic salary + bonuses + shares (if any).

Answering to some other question in this topic:

1) Usually most people stop at VP level.

2) Usually it takes about 8-10 years to reach to VP level, if not longer, depending on many factors. VP salary range is typically 140k - 190k, depending on years of experiences and portfolio handling. The salary package might include title salary which some banks gives like 1k+ for transport and allowance, which is also included in salary package. But overall package approximately 150k for people whom just got promoted to VP.

3) Usually for AVP, experience needed is about 4.5 years to 7 years will be able to obtain AVP. For annual salary package wise about 80k - 100k.

4) Salary package across department will be different. Take for example a similar years of experience of AVP in Technology department vs someone in Operations department, on average Technology department will ALWAYS earn more, but how much more it really depends.

I wonder if most graduate working in bank ends up at VP or AVP. Will there be a significant number of bank employees actually stuck at AVP earning upper limit of the AVP salary (around 100k to 150k)

Thanks for your insights, this is very helpful.

Given that AVPs are between 80k to 100k bands, i guess if the said employees were to be stuck at AVP they'll be at max hit 120k?

anything above that like 140-150k onwards will correspond to VP pay already according to what i assumed from the previous posts

This sound like DBS. Very very few banks have transport allowance. DBS is one of the rare few.

Most graduates should make VP before retirement. You seldom see graduates stuck at AVP salary limit as they would have moved on to other companies. It's more likely you see older folks without degrees who remain as AVPs until retirement.

All graduates should strive for a VP position at minimum. That's what I tell my team during their performance review.

What about females who took a break from work (for family) and returned to workforce, what would be the expectation?

i just noticed that my friend is a "Vice President Home Loan Specialist"

joined UOB for 4 years till date. highest qualification is Masters from Curtin University...

how is it possible for him to move up so quickly?? considering it takes awhile to reach AVP before even VP...

we are both 29

Sales job usually have big titles that’s not necessarily come with high pay.
Will prospects do business with an associate or VP?

End of the day, a sales role is still commission based. Banks do not pay for non-performance.

PhDs comes in as AVPs typically

UOB has slight rank inflation. They have 2 tiers of VP, VP1/VP2. Their junior VP salary can be as low at 90k p.a. base. or 7.5k p.m. This is common for banks like HSBC and SMBC also where pple can hit VP v fast but their p.a basic is only at around 80-90k p.a.

thanks for the insights... it's certainly helpful for me and others who are trying to find out more on banks promotion and progression...

also to add on, do sales / commission based employees fall under the same "ranking system"?

as some forumers have pointed out, seems like the title is very much inflated for purpose of doing business with end-consumers. like in the case for insurance agents and property agents as well.

is a VP doing loans a "real" VP? or in actual fact it's just AVP or lower??

to add on further, i feel that at our age (29yo)... 80-90k p.a. is very good money already considering most of my peers do not even earn > S$5k per month and they are from local universities like NTU / NUS.

most including myself only earn approx S$50-60k++ per annum... around S$4k~ median salary with 3-5 years experience.

VP for client facing roles I believe is manager level, not real VP. In operations, VP is real VP, and it takes 10 years for somebody to get there from entry level.

Don't get caught up in titles. It's the same reason fresh grads in MTI go in as AD.

Salary is a good gauge of the true position.

Its true on the rank inflation. I used to work in a bank but went over to join a MNC. My title is analyst with close to 4 years experience but I am getting close to 85k. This could be the pay range of avps in banks with 5 to 7 years experience.

Some banks are known for playing rank. When you are AVP, VPs from other department will tend to ignore you until you get your boss to talk to them. Meanwhile, when you are VP you are easily able to order AVPs around.

I guess the bands are just for estimation but are quite accurate for majority of the cases.

AVP for most Banks do not earn more than 120k and more.
-Calculation of 14 months package (12 months basic + 2 months bonus) - 8.5k/mth

Probably AVP can be more than 120k, if they are older than certain age, say like 45 years old and older or so, maybe.

As what others had mentioned, most graduate with Degree will end up at VP eventually at 40s which is a equivalent "Manager" title at MNCs.

I will say that this is true to certain extent, depending on nature of work. But if the office politics are like this, then play the game. Cant beat them, join them.

But majority from what I know does not really play this kind of game, it is a waste of time and we have better things to do.

-Ken09

This topic general context is on Bank, therefore it is true that title inflation is there, as what others had pointed out, the newly promoted VP from Bank-A and Bank-B is definitely not equal in the sense of salary package.

A lot of the information on this forum is based on hearsay, some numbers are very bloated. It is understandable that people tend to remember bigger numbers that shocked them and like to quote such as if they were part of it and make themselves feeling superior. The truth is actually not that difficult to find out though. IRAS publish data every year from which we can easily identify how much percentile of the working population actually earn how much. Even for banking, 200k p.a. is also consider quite a decent pay for someone with 10-15 years of working experience. And the upwards corporate ladder is not easy for every to climb - simple truth is, in any industry, top of the pyramid is always small and tough to get to.

Just to provide what's relevant to this thread, I can share my own employer's corporate level and salary range (annual base) as of 2017. It is one of the top banks from US, one of the systemically important ones
AVP: 75k-150k
VP: 100k-200k
SVP: 150k-300k
ED: 200k-400k
MD:250k-500k

my typical VP colleagues are in their late 30s to early 40s, with 10-15 years working experience. some high achievers reach SVP before 40 but quite rare. MDs are typically those with 20+ years of experience in the industry.

MD level onwards, part of the compensation will be stock. the higher the level, the more of the stock component. our CEO's base salary is 1.5mil, but his total package amounts to 20mil+, majority is stock.

to add more context for expats, for international locations, multiply the above figure with the below coefficients:
New York/San Francisco: x1.5
Chicago/New Jersy: x1.2
Rest of US: x1.1
HongKong: x1.15
Japan: x0.9
China/South Korea: x0.85
Taiwan: x0.7
India: x0.4
Longdon/Frankfurt: x0.8
Belgium: x0.9

These figures are for corporate banking. For investment banking there's another system, generally you multiply these number with 1.5 for same grade in investment banking

Thanks for the good info. As these are base salary figures, could you also provide bonus figures?

Good post! Thanks for sharing

bonus varies a lot across functions. back office typically around 1 month, front office can get up to 3minths. direct p&l function bonus tie to performance and can get really big.

typical US firms are thin on bonuses, and they offer annual package instead of monthly

Thanks. So after adjusting for 25% bonuses, the "all-in" figures will be:

AVP: 94k-188k
VP: 125k-250k
SVP: 188k-375k
ED: 250k-500k
MD: 313k-625k

I think salary ranges make sense, but we also know that it can be very hard to get the higher end. Can someone provide the median salary as well? I think this will help others to know the market rate.