Investment banks pay their interns a £30,000 salary

Interns at investment banks can expect to be paid a £30,000 salary, while other financial services offer interns a wage equivalent to £21,000 a year.

The Association of Graduate Recruiters’ (AGR) 2016 Survey took responses from 208 employers and found interns in the investment banking sector earned on average £30,000 – nearly double the amount that interns working at utility, energy and water companies expected to get at £15,800.

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Other lucrative internships included the banking and financial sector, with a wage equivalent to £21,000, accountancy and professional services on £18,000 and law with £16,900.

Aside from utility companies, the lowest paid internships were in the public sector with £16,382 with those working in construction and consultancy or in an engineering and industrial company being paid an average salary of £16,500.

Out of the 9,390 interns hired this year, only 1.9 per cent worked in investment banking whilst nearly a quarter (22.2 per cent) interned in the banking and financial service sector.

Over 700 companies from seventeen sectors participated in the survey and included household names such as Goldman Sachs, EDF Energy and HSBC.

Intern salaries have actually been increasing faster than graduate salaries over the last few years. On average, median wages for interns increased by 4 per cent at £330 a week, equivalent to £17,160 a year.

The survey also found that in 2015, 45 per cent of interns secured a graduate job at the same company.

Stephen Isherwood, AGR chief executive said:

“If you need a job, get work experience. As well as a solid introduction to working life, you will develop skills that will make you more employable. Employers value internships in particular as they get a chance to see what you bring to the organisation. Make a good impression and you’re very likely to be offered a job at the end of it.

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