By Niket Nishant
(Reuters) -Investment bank Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) Financial Group Inc has markedly boosted salaries for its bankers, a source close to the matter said on Monday, mirroring recent pay hikes by other Wall Street lenders.
The bank's first-year U.S. analysts will now earn $110,000 annually, up from $85,000. Second-year analysts will make $125,000 per year, up from $90,000, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and asked for anonymity.
Salaries of associates were raised to $150,000 from $125,000, the source added.
The new pay scale, reported earlier in the day by the Wall Street Journal, has been in effect since July 1 and follows similar moves by major Wall Street firms. The hikes are an attempt to attract and retain top talent and appropriately compensate for bankers' workload as dealmaking activity continues at an unprecedented pace.
In the United States, mergers and acquisitions worth $699 billion were announced in the second quarter this year, up 440% from last year.
The blank-check frenzy has also started regaining momentum after a lull earlier this year, adding to the workload of bankers already grappling to meet the needs of more clients as the economy reopens.
Since last year, Jefferies has worked on a number of high-profile deals. It was among the underwriters for Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd, the biggest SPAC ever.
Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), UBS Group AG (SIX:UBSG) and Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Ltd have also raised pay for their bankers working hard, after a grueling year that took a toll on their health and mental wellbeing.
Major Wall Street firms have been introducing incentives for younger staff after a group of first-year analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) complained of long hours and "unrealistic deadlines" in an internal survey in March.
(Repoting by Nishant Niket in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Shinjini Ganguli)