Investment bankers cash in

Investment bankers fresh out of school are getting signing bonuses of $45,000, more than twice as much as last year.

Third-year bankers may get 25% raises to $325,000. Managing directors are back up to $1 million a year.

Pay for bankers on Wall Street, the City of London and Tokyo’s Marunouchi district is soaring as demand for securities sales and merger advice leads to record profits for companies such as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and UBS AG.

Fees for investment banking worldwide this year may rise 19% to $47.3 billion, according to Mercer Oliver Wyman, a New York-based consultancy.