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Wednesday 08 April 2015 7:00 am

How to get into the finance sector: The six university degree subjects most likely to land you a job in a London bank

By: Emma Haslett

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It's that time of year again – A-Levels are coming up, and students everywhere are trying to work out what to next.

Aspiring bankers could do worse than to read up on new research by salary benchmarking site Emolument.com, which has identified the six most common degrees held by London bankers.

At the top – not surprisingly – are accounting, business and finance, in which 34 per cent of the capital's bankers hold a degree. But further down the list are less obvious subjects, such as engineering and computer sciences.
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In fact, according to the research of 706 bankers, 15 per cent of HSBC's staff did their degrees in arts and humanities subjects – although it added that most of them went to either Oxford or Cambridge. 

But although an accounting degree might be more likely to land you a job in the finance sector, it's not necessarily the best paying. That goes to maths graduates – who, once they reach director level, tend to earn more than £100,000 more than their accountant colleagues. So if you're in it for the long game, go for maths. 

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