Few names in the world evoke wealth like “Rothschild”. Most people might imagine that an investment bank called Rothschild & Co. is a revolving door of millionaires. The reality, however, is a little different.
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Pillar 3 accounts released for Rothschild & Co. show the scale (or lack of it, rather) of the bank’s pay. Rothschild & Co’s material risk-takers (MRTs) are not the millionaires people think they are.
Instead, the accounts reveal that only 12% of Rothschild’s 130 material risk takers earned more than €1m (£860k) last year, with average pay for MRTs at the bank just €623k (£533k).
This doesn’t compare favourably to rival banks. At Barclays, for example, 662 of the bank’s 1,093 MRTs earned over €1m in 2024 – 61% of the total. Even government-owned NatWest paid 81 of its 315 MRTs earned over €1m – 26% of them. At Lloyds, 52 of 304 MRTs earned over €1m, or 17% of them.