Salaries of junior London financiers surge

The average pay of junior executives working in the City of London financial sector rose sharply over the summer, a survey by financial services recruitment firm Astbury Marsden said on Monday.
The survey said average base salaries for City workers at assistant vice president (AVP) level increased by 12% from last year to 70,480 pounds.
Much of the British public remains angered at the high wages of London bankers, who have been blamed for bringing about the financial crisis and paying out large bonuses despite using taxpayer money to support their banks through the crisis.
Astbury Marsden Managing Director Jonathan Nicholson said one of the reasons why wages were rising so quickly for junior executives was because banks and financial institutions were starting to suffer from shortages created by the cancellation of graduate and business school intakes during the credit crunch.
"There is a serious shortage of junior salespeople, analysts and other support functions, and banks and fund managers are now having to pay through the nose to get them," he said.