Pay rises for employees based in Asia Pacific are twice as high as their European counterparts, according to research by Mercer.
The Global financial services incentive plan snapshot survey reviews remuneration practices and base pay increase data from 63 financial services organisations in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Americas.
The research found that pay rises in Asia Pacific in 2012 are expected to average 5%, compared with 2.5% in the Americas and just 2% in Europe.
It also revealed that over half of respondents do not plan to make changes to their bonus plan this year. Nevertheless, almost one-third (30%) planned to revise performance measures.
Two-thirds (60%) are not planning to make any changes to their long-term incentive plans (LTIs) but, for those that did, 30% were looking to revise their bonus plan design. A smaller proportion (6%) plan to introduce a forward-looking LTI and revise performances measures.
Vicki Elliott, senior partner and financial services industry leader at Mercer, said: “Since 2010, major steps have been taken in the financial services industry to reduce risk, to tie incentives more closely to economic performance and to allow the claw back of bonuses.
“To better balance the mix of fixed versus variable pay, and also moderate the potential loss in their employees’ earning power, many organisations have increased based salaries significantly in the last couple of years.
“So, while it may appear that employees in financial services organisations are experiencing the same base pay restraint as other sectors of the global economy, the reality is slightly more nuanced.”
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