Salaries and benefits: How do development banks compare?

There has been much talk over the past few months on the rise of new multilateral development banks: the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the BRICS’ New Development Bank. Alongside discussions on how the new banks will be set up and on whether they will eschew social and environmental safeguards for speed and cost is the inevitable battle for talent. To get the banks up and running — and running smoothly — by the end of the year, they would need to attract prime talent from both the public and private sectors. Well-established multilateral development banks — such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank — are the most likely sources of much-needed expertise. But the establishment of these new banks has expanded the career pool not just for seasoned experts but for young and midlevel development professionals as well. Apart from the fulfillment of helping people and contributing to the cause of international development, staff in these MDBs enjoy competitive salaries, travel opportunities and fiscal incentives, to name a few. But just how much do these multilateral financial institutions offer their employees in salaries and benefits? Devex dug into World Bank, ADB and IDB data and compared their 2012 and 2013 salary grades and structures to find out. President Of the three financial institutions, the World Bank is the most generous in both salary and benefits. According to the fiscal 2013 remuneration scale, Jim Yong Kim received $476,360 in net salary and $372,182 in total benefits that year. Both ADB and IDB, meanwhile, provided $446,969 as base salary in 2013. But IDB also approved a $79,993 executive allowance for Luis Alberto Moreno that year, in addition to $187,727 in benefits. The president of the World Bank and IDB share similar benefits: contributions to a retirement plan, annual leaves and medical and life insurance policies, plus other nonsalary benefits. ADB, meanwhile, did not specify how much Takehiko Nakao received in benefits for 2013, although it normally offers housing subsidies and education allowances on top of the usual benefits. Vice presidents While multilateral development banks generally have multiple vice presidents responsible for different divisions or aspects of bank operations, not all of them have executive vice presidents: Of the three banks whose data we looked into, ADB is the lone institution sans an executive vice president. The World Bank Group, meanwhile, does not have an executive vice president for the group. But it does have executive vice presidents for each of its private sector arms: the International Finance Corp. and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. These EVPs consequently serve as the CEOs of these divisions. These executive vice presidents’ salaries in 2013 all fell within a close range of each other. IFC’s executive vice president not only had the lowest net salary that year, it also had the sharpest decline over a one-year period, dropping 4.4 percent to $350,000. The EVP saw benefits slide from $232,540 in fiscal 2012 to $168,555 in fiscal 2013 as well. MIGA’s executive vice president, meanwhile, received $363,158 in net salary and $174,788 in total benefits in fiscal 2013. IDB’s executive vice president received the highest salary among the three EVPs and saw the most improvement in its compensation: up 2.7 percent to $366,300 in 2013, plus an additional $153,846 in benefits. Likewise, IDB vice presidents’ average salaries in 2013 saw the highest year-on-year increase among all three banks. From $317,866 in 2012, average salaries grew 4.3 percent to $331,573 in 2013. Their average benefits for the year improved as well, rising from $133,504 to $139,261. While the average salaries of vice presidents at the World Bank Group and ADB both grew 2.4 percent year-on-year, the D.C.-based institution paid its vice presidents more. World Bank Group vice presidents were given $309,632 and $177,016 in average salaries and benefits, respectively, in fiscal 2013. ADB vice presidents, meanwhile, received $279,896 in average net salary in 2013. Senior management When it comes to senior management positions, multilateral development banks have myriad positions for different roles. The World Bank Group, for instance, has managing directors, director generals and executive directors in its senior management team. The salary of managing directors in fiscal 2013 ranged from $330,293 to $381,250. Their benefits ranged from $174,250 to $230,346. Many of these managing directors serve dual roles in the organization. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, for instance, is both managing director and chief operating officer for the group. Bertrand Badré, meanwhile, doubles as the bank group’s chief financial officer. Among the World Bank Group’s senior management team, the director general saw the biggest jump in fiscal 2013 salaries, increasing 7.9 percent to $322,320. On top of that, the director general received $155,132 in benefits, up from $137,536 in fiscal 2012. Executive directors’ average salaries remained unchanged at $244,350 with no benefits indicated. IDB’s senior management team, meanwhile, comprises general managers, directors of independent offices and sector managers. Their average salaries in 2013 ranged from $236,464 to $301,984, with average benefits from $99,315 to $126,833. The average salaries of ADB directors, on the other hand, increased 2 percent to $233,777 in 2013. The usual benefits for ADB employees apply. Staff level Among the three multilateral development banks, there is an average 29 percent difference between the average salaries of the lowest-paid position in the senior management team and the highest-paid position among professional staff. The biggest difference in average salary is at the IDB, where lead specialists and advisers received $148,179 in 2013, 37.3 percent lower than what sector managers were paid that year. Lead specialists and advisers were also given $62,235 in benefits in 2013. At ADB, the average salary of principal specialists or their equivalents was $171,000 in 2013, 26.9 percent lower than directors’ average salaries. Young professionals, meanwhile, were paid between $79,900 and $93,100 last year. World Bank professionals and analysts received salaries and benefits ranging from $100,000 to almost $300,000 in 2013. Managers and lead professionals’ overall compensation grew 1.8 percent in 2013 to $296,985. At $188,958, however, their average salaries are 22.7 percent lower than executive directors’ pay. Check out more career advice stories online, and subscribe to Doing Good to receive top international development career and recruitment news.