Salaries - London, UK (Canary Wharf)

obviously a broad question and many variables involved… but trying to gauge a range of salaries for a 5 yr finance professional (CFA Charterholder w/ derivatives) current company is located in CW in london (very nice area) … but what other hot spots are there - i know there are some areas near river thames (i.e. RBC, etc)… where do you guys/gals work? any london’ers can chime in or discuss …that would be great … looked at glassdoor but can never fully rely on the numbers thanks

I lived in London for about 8 years (studied then worked). A lot of the financial companies are based in CW but you also get a lot in “The City” (i.e. Liverpool street / Moorgate area). I worked in Equity and Interest Rate derivatives jobs back then for large IBs (i.e. CS, HSBC, etc) but developing front office trading / analysis tools so more of an IT slanted work. From what I saw, rates for someone with 5 years in that area were around sterling 50K to 85K base + bonus, 400 to 650 a day for contract work. Don’t know what people in other jobs were making though. I always worked in CW but would have always preferred to work in the City instead. CW is polished but I found it to be really soulless. You feel like you’re just living in the finance professionals bubble with nothing else going on. The City has much more charm with the old world pubs and you’re closer to where you actually want to go out (i.e. Shoreditch, Brick Lane, etc)