U.S. trader bonuses hit harder than in London

LONDON (Reuters) - The global credit crisis dented the salary and bonus packages of U.S. traders more severely than those of their London peers this year, according to a survey released on Sunday.

Traders in credit and debt markets were the hardest hit. Their pay packages shrank an average of 60 percent on Wall Street compared with a 40 percent drop in the city of London financial district, according to the annual survey by Napier Scott recruiters.

British-based managing directors in credit and debt markets at the biggest banks received packages of 685,000 pounds, down 290,000 pounds on the previous year but still higher than the 510,000 pounds paid to their U.S. counterparts.

However, some London managing directors were paid more than 1 million pounds, particularly in equity derivatives sales and exotic credit trading, the firm said.

Globally, pay in equity derivatives recorded the highest average gain of 14 percent, with some increases reaching 30 percent.

Traders in Asia were the best-off, with managing directors in exotic credit trading and credit structuring at top banks enjoying more than 1.4 million pounds in remuneration.

"This was due to intense competition for talent and the Asia region being relatively less battered by the credit crisis," Napier Scott Chief Executive Shaun Springer said.

The Middle East took the prize for the highest rise in pay for the second straight year, with packages up between 10 percent and 20 percent, albeit from a lower base.

Napier Scott surveyed more than 3,000 front-office traders covering international markets.

(Reporting by Olesya Dmitracova, editing by Maureen Bavdek)