This ought to be warning for the professions that have provided the backbone of the British middle class. What is emerging is a world in which a tiny sliver at the top captures rents from financial capital, and a great many credentialed professionals earn a little above the legal salary floor. While London lags behind New York as the quant capital of global finance, the US is a larger and more variegated economy with other industries – notably AI – attracting top graduates. The war for “talent” across the pond is so ridiculous that Mr Gerko’s XTX New York office offers interns $35,000 a month in compensation.