New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Hedge fund professionals received increases in both base salary and year-end bonuses, the 2015 Hedge Fund Compensation Report revealed today.

“The difference this year is we saw a reduction in the correlation between fund performance and bonus levels.” David Kochanek, Publisher of the Hedge Fund Compensation Report, said. “While those with even fund performance earned lower bonuses than their positively performing peers, those with positive performance earned nearly the same bonus levels.”

Highlights include:

• The average reported cash compensation was up again in this year and came in at $368,000.
• Base salary grew by single digits this year, as bonuses grew by double digits again this year.

The annual industry report is based on data collected directly from hedge fund managers and employees representing hundreds of investment firms.

• Overall cash compensation was up 12 percent over last year.
• Average base compensation increased 7 percent, however, bonuses were 16 percent higher due to performance-based bonus structures.

“This year we saw fund performance taper a bit.” The report says. “While 90 percent of last year’s respondents indicated their fund had reported gains, this year that number was still a solid 79 percent. At the high end of performance, only 3 percent of funds this year earned in excess of 25 percent for their investors, while last year nearly 1 in 5 reported their funds hit this extraordinary level of performance.”

For the third year in a row, 3 in 10 hedge fund employees expected 16 percent to 100 percent more cash compensation. “The change we saw was in the big percentage increase in the number of hedge fund professionals that expected their compensation to decrease,” said Kochanek. “Last year only 10 percent expected a decrease. This year that number jumped to 18 percent.”

Hiring plans for 2015 have increased across the board. In every single area these professional reported increased hiring activity. It is not all good news. “On the other side, we saw an increase in the number reporting reductions in headcount as well,” the report concluded.

Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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