Investment banks could be cutting back on their trading tasks but also for those still on the market the money stays good - specifically at JP Morgan.

Directors at the US Bank earn usually £461,000 a year - £214,000 in salary and also a £272,000 bonus offer, according to research by the salary benchmarking web site Emolument.com.

The JP Morgan bankers, working in sales, trading as well as research, earn 15 % greater than competitors at equal grades at 2nd-place Deutsche Banking, the survey found.

Supervisors at both out-earn those at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, generally assumed to pay the very best. Bank of America Merrill Lynch was 3rd, paying an average of £376,000.

directorshe best awarded at a British bank were HSBC's directors, in 12th place on a typical £308,000. Barclays was one level lower, paying about £280,000.

Investment banks have lowered their own-account trading after regulatory authorities boosted the amount of capital consumed by those tasks. But JP Morgan's loss of at least $6bn (£3.7 bn) in 2012 from its London Whale bet revealed that dealing is still a large part of the business.

Morgan Stanley's traders earned £353,000, placing them 7th in the rankings, while those at Goldman Sachs were paid £330,000 and ranked 9th.

Emolument said Goldman paid its managing directors well - at the top layer of investment bankers - yet it appeared much less charitable compared to competitors for investors on the next rung down. For those that work in the markets, JP Morgan is the place to be, it said.

Robert Benson, chief executive of Emolument, said banks from continental Europe, such as France's Society General & Credit Agricole, had the problem of matching pay from their much less profitable home market with high wage demands in London.

Emolument said its estimates were based upon feedbacks from 640 bankers in trading, sales and research about their pay for 2013/14.