Wall Street’s surviving fat cats are getting even fatter.
The average salary, including bonuses, in the securities industry grew 14 percent last year to $404,800 — the third-highest year on record after adjusting for inflation, according to a report from New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Wall Street has been shrinking since the financial crisis in 2008, and is still 9 percent smaller than it was in 2007, but those who still have jobs are reaping the dividends.
“If you can get the work, it’s certainly very good,” DiNapoli said during a call with reporters Tuesday.
Average salaries on Wall Street were nearly six times higher in 2014 than in the rest of the city’s private sector at $72,300. Nearly a quarter of the employees earned more than $250,000 in 2013, compared with less than 3 percent in the rest of the city’s work force.
While the markets have been rocky in recent months, Wall Street had a good start to the year, raking in $11.3 billion in profits in the first six months — the most since 2011, according to the report.
The higher profit was “driven in part by lower legal settlements,” DiNapoli said.
Non-compensation expenses, which include the cost of legal settlements, fell by 12 percent in the first half, the report showed.
Legal settlements tied to the 2008 financial crisis have been a drag on bank profits for years. While Wall Street is digging its way out of the regulatory rubble, the banks will continue to hire more lawyers and compliance personnel “in order to avoid future litigation,” DiNapoli said.
“Compliance positions are going to continue to be a growth area within the industry,” he added.
Despite the strong start to the year, profits are in danger of weakening because of the higher volatility that has been caused by instability in the Chinese economy and the ripple effects that have sent global markets lower.