STOP THE MISINFORMATION: SG Salary Guides For Accounting, Banking, Finance & IT
 

Hoping to clear up some doubts and mis-information with regards to salaries in SG. These are the latest salary report guides by Robert Half SG for 2011:

Banking & Financial Services Salary Guide 2011 by Robert Half:
(Mid and Back office only)
- Product Control, 6-9yrs exp, 120-200k
- Credit Risk, 6-9yrs exp, 120-200k
- Market Risk, 6-9yrs exp, 130-200k,

So as you can see, even for mid and back office roles, they do get quite a bit, so not everyone on the forum are being outlandish. I can't find the FO roles like IBD, S&T, ER, AM. Will update this when I find it, or perhaps someone could PM me.

SG Finance & Accounting Salary Guide 2011 by Robert Half

- Finance Manager, 6-9yrs exp, 110-140k
- Internal Auditor, 6-9yrs exp, 85-120k
- Tax Manager, 6-9yrs exp, 110-140k

SG Technology Salary Guide 2011 by Robert Half

- IT manager, 6-9 yrs exp, 125-145k
- Project Manager, 6-9 yrs exp, 100-125k
- Systems Admin, 6-9 yrs exp, 100-125k

Robert Half is a recruitment agency. Agencies are famous for super inflating their salary numbers to attract candidates to deposit CV with them.

If you want accurate benchmarks you need to go to management consulting firms like Aon Hewitt, Mercer, Hay, Towers Perrin, HRBS etc.

For eg. there is no way an average IT guy can hit $125k in 6 years like what they report. High fliers possible, but as an average, no.

I agree even mid and back office jobs in banks make a lot more than outside, but you loose credibility when you quote a recruitment agent.

The title of the thread is "Stop the Misinformation.." U mean the forumers or the recruitment agency is giving wrong figures?

Besides the earlier post on attracting candidates..higher advertised salaries also make sense for recruitment agents since they are paid a % of the successful candidates' salaries. So they have more incentive to inflate figures..

Perhaps by applying a discount of 20-30% on all the figures provided, we'll be closer to the real numbers in the market :)

Agree. I check my salary against those published by recruitment firms and that prompt me to think of changing job.

Sh!t then I'm in trouble. I went to an interview with a bank a few days ago for a risk management position and citied 160k as expected basic salary because the booklet the recruiter pass me listed risk management jobs as between 180k - 260k.

Since I'm switiching from engineering, I thought underquote a bit to make myself more competitive, but it's still 30% more than what I'm getting now. If the numbers are inflated, then I could be quoting numbers too high...

don't worry, at the most they just won't call you back.

Miwashi aka The grasscutter is eating sour grapes again....

Not possible lar, that kind of stated salary 180 - 260k would have been a head of department probably a SVP.

6 years to hit 125K is not impossible. But it's whether you have the luck to enter such companies & whether you can tahan. Esso and UBS offer such kinda salary.

My fren in earned 6000 after 6 yrs in Esso plus his bonus everything it's more 125K. Another fren of mine in UBS, 7K after 7 yrs ...also abt 125K .

He already said is possible, but just not average.

Why you repeat the point again?

The 125k refer to basic salary not with bonus btw, so even your friend from UBS & Esso also fail to meet which again proves the pt these numbers are BS.

Esso is = exxon mobil ???

exxon mobil annual package = 15 mth only

6000 x 15 = 90000, where got 125k??

He's talking about the Esso pump attendant.

No wonder the number of truly skilled engineers are rapidly decreasing... :(

Salary
 

Look here for real salary
Singapore Salaries | Glassdoor

These are surveyed salaries, as real as the NUS/NTU/SMU grad surveys.

The most real numbers are from Iras and certified true copies of payslips.

Glassdoor is the worst source to get salary info, anyone can apply for a user id and key in whatever number they want.

Maybe, but the salary looks more down to earth compared to Robert Half.

It put the average salary of a AVP in DBS as 78K pa and it is a "looks ok" number unless the person deflate his salary (most people then to inflate).

Hence from this basis I think the Glassdoor is reliable.

Yes it can be done, but would u do that? Have u created a userid just to go in and put a fake salary? I think there will be some jobless, childish people who have a lot of time to spare..but i suspect this sample size is very small.

And as mentioned in the post above, fakers are more likely to inflate, than deflate their salary. So, i do think glassdoor's figures would be more reliable than most recruitment consultants..

You are basically looking at Glassdoor and concluding they are more reliable because the numbers are lower or "down to earth".

The fact is you have no idea how much DBS AVP is paying unless you can access their HRIS system. You are just concluding it is more OK because you think DBS AVP should be paid at around 78k.

I for one do not believe DBS AVP is paid at 78k, it's way too low, works out to only 6.5k p.m. Very unlikely.

We all do not know unless we are a DBS AVP. But we can make intelligent conclusion based on simple common sense.

1. Who (Robert Half or the contributor of Glassdoor) has more incentive to inflate salary?
2. How likely is a contributor to Glassdoor to defllate the salary of DBS AVP?

My common sense tell me
1. Robert Half has an incentive to inflate salary stated.
2. A contrinbutor to Glassdoor is less likely to deflate his/her salary and hence when he/her state that is his AVP salary is 78K it is likely he/her is stating the truth and not lying.

Both of use do not have access to DBS AVP salary but your conclusion is based on simply "gut feel" without any logic while mine is based on simple analysis and common sense.

then how much be the salary of AVP from UOB having 5 years exp since fresh grad?

I would say 10k at least. Most jobs in finance now pays 15-20k for people with 5 years experience. Anything less you're being shortchanged. Look for another job.

Disagree. U're out of touch with reality. Or maybe u're just saying for fun.

AVP cannot be 6.5k lar unless very junior or just promoted one...

Do you mean 15-20k is too low or too high?

Agree, management associate already start off at 4.6k in DBS, how can AVP be so low?

i am AVP at UOB from FO. i can safely say i dun earn 10k. for my yrs of exp, yes foreign banks pay more. but not at UOB.

I’m sure they dun pay AVP at 6.5k also rite?

I was a AVP in a US Bank and joined via the MA program.

AVP salary range is wide and depends largely on years of experience and job function.

If an "average" number is to be given, I would say that for an AVP 5-7 years into the job (from school) would draw around 100k per year. Won't pass the 10k pm mark yet.

Just dumb like hell. Talking it as a fact. Figures are totally wrong. Auditors don't get 15-20k with 5 years experience. Bank operations dont make 15-20k with 5 years experience. Even most in front office don't make 15-20k with 5 years of experience.

Probably another troll post from someone who knows nothing.

Ocbc avp
 

OCBC AVP here with about 7 years of working experience. I'm taking home only $6k a month so that probably makes me a seriously underpaid staff here. Last bonus received was about 4.7 months.

Erm yar, this is quite bad. Only equivalent to Assistant Managers in non-banks...

Ocbc avp
 

Sadly, this is the real-life average pay of a back-end office staff for local banks... Way way lower than the superstar pays quoted by some people in salary.sg forum. As far as I know, most of the non-sales bank staff are getting around this pay. AVPs pay can range quite substantially though as there'll be a lot of hentataki staff stuck at this level with maxed out experience, and probably maxed out pay in terms of their salary ceiling. Still, it is providing a very comfortable life for a normal peasant like me in Singapore.

Dun be so pessimistic..if u are unaware, u are already making 100k p.a. for 7 yrs working exp. It's not bad really. Also, as u already know, AVP pay range is big..there was another AVP local bank guy making abt 9k, somewhere much earlier in this forum. Non sales also. So u never know...

Ocbc avp
 

Not being pessimistic. Nobody's ever satisfied with their pay but I'm quite contented with what I'm getting. The reason for my post is more for those who are interested to find out... and for them to manage their expectations should they feel they want to come into banking. Not every role in the banking sector pays superstar renumerations. If you are able to make it to a VP level, which not everyone WILL BE ABLE TO HIT, then you'll be able to live off quite comfortably. If not, AVPs do pay quite well if you are an average Singaporean.

I guess if ur happy it’s OK.

But you should consider move out of banking, it seems your pay progression is so slow there really is no point in you remaining there. Might as well get a AM equivalent job in a MNC and maybe still got prospect to promote to manager and maybe even senior manager…

In your own opinion, if you continue in the financial industry (maybe hop to another bank), what's the max salary you can hit in your career?

Avp
 

If I'm optimistic, I'd say $15k per month with an annual of close to $200k is the absolutely highest I can reach... and that will probably will when I'm in my 40s. Lotsa people here are already hitting that figure in their early 20s if you choose to believe them. so, again, I'm probably one of the slowest in terms of progression. Personally, my target is to try and hit $10k pm by the time I close in on 40yo.

I think you are being modest. Those who hit 200k in their "early 20s" are the outermost outliers.

Most people never ever hit 100k in their entire lives.

avp pay varies a lot la, from 5.5k to 15k just dont stay in local bank