Graduate bankers are demanding starting salaries of more than £60,000 as junior workers continue to pile pressure on managers to dish out more perks amid a war for talent. 

Entry level banking analysts in the City of London can now expect to earn a base salary of £63,000 before bonuses in their first year out of university, a jump of more than a quarter on last year, according to a report from professional services recruiter Dartmouth.  

It comes as the financial and professional services industries are increasingly hiking pay and offering lavish benefits in a bid to attract talent to compensate for an infamously poor work-life balance.

JP Morgan is paying the highest base salary to graduates at £70,000, the report found.

It also showed that junior associates at City investment banks, who have four years of experience, can expect to take home a base salary of £119,000, up 14pc from the prior year, and an average bonus of £107,000 on top. 

Goldman Sachs paid the highest bonuses last year, handing out an average of £180,000 to associates and £350,000 to its vice presidents, who are one rung above them on the career ladder. 

Logan Naidu, chief executive of Dartmouth, said investment banks are being forced to offer such elaborate pay rewards as they are now competing with private equity firms for the best graduate talent, which was not the case in previous years. 

He said: “Base pay has doubled in the last ten years. There are more opportunities and people are looking at these places like training grounds. In that sense, it is more American.” 

Banks are scrambling to make a career at an investment bank more appealing amid fears in the industry that talented graduates are choosing to work for technology companies, which offer a better work-life balance. 

Last month, Citigroup revealed that it was setting up a new office in Malaga as part of efforts to retain staff.

The Wall Street giant is hoping that the Andalusian city will offer employees a better work-life balance and help curb attrition among junior bankers as it bets that banks will need to do more than just boost pay to keep junior staff on side. 

Meanwhile City law firms are also desperately trying to out bid each other when it comes to pay for new solicitors. 

Akin Gump, a US firm, this week raised base salaries for its newly qualified lawyers in London – those with two years of training – to a record £164,000.