As everyone knows, the only reason to become a banker, and be subject to constant derision, abuse, scorn and hatred by the "99%", and potentially to a fate comparable to that of the aristocracy in France circa 1789, is a simple one: money.
Specifically, get as much of in as short a time period as possible, be rewarded with a taxpayer bailout or two when massive bets go epically wrong, then convert all your cash into "hard assets" and escape to a non-extradition country before the latest credit bubble pops. In other words, a simple opportunity cost analysis.
Which then begs the question: why are there bankers in the following European countries: Slovenia, Romania, Malta, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. The one thing these countries have in common is that according to a just released European Banking Authority study, in the year ended 2011 not a single domiciled banker made over €1 million!
In other words: bankers working for feudal peasant salaries. What a scam.
That said, we would be quite cautious if we were among the two Greek bankers (up from 0 in 2010) who made over €1 million in Greece.
We would also be cautious if we were among the 4 millionaire bankers in Cyprus or the 21 rich members of the 1% oligarchy in Ireland.
We would certainly be cautious if we were among the 96 banking millionaires in Italy (down from 119 the year before) or the 125 Spanish millionaires (down just a fraction from 133 the year prior), especially since the average remuneration per millionaire banker in Spain was €2.4 million: the highest in all of Europe!
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So now that we know where not to be a banker due to lack of "equitable remuneration", or where it may be hazardous to one's health, the question is: where should one be a banker?
Well, as observent readers may have noticed, the chart above cuts off the UK as it would otherwise be off the charts.
How much off the charts? This much.
Full EBAreport