Banks that love men and money but hate the opposite sex

Apparently, women work for love - the love of the job, that is, while men, due to the presence of a certain hormone, are entitled to at least twice the wages that their female colleagues earn, especially at some of the leading investment banks in the US and UK, according to data compiled by Reuters.59 per cent - is how much women's average hourly wage is lower compared to the men's, at the UK-headquartered HSBC - which incidentally, had a woman, Naina Lal Kidwai, heading its Indian operations not too long ago.

With over $900 billion in assets, the nearly 150 year old Goldman Sachs will probably need to rename itself as Goldwoman Sachs to ensure gender pay parity.Average hourly wages for women at the US investment bank are 55.5 per cent lower than their male counterparts - making you wonder what happens to the billions of dollars earned as profit.

48.4 per cent is the difference between the average hourly wages of men and women, to the detriment of the latter, at Citigroup - which has just two women in its leadership operating committee, which comprises the executive heads of various divisions.

Considering that the 327 year old Barclays is named after the founder's son-in-law, rather than his daughter, no surprises in the fact that women working at this UK-based investment bank earn, on an average, 48 per cent lower hourly wages than their male counterparts.

Founded over 250 years ago and named after a British iron trader, Lloyds pays its female staffers 37.6 per cent less in average hourly wages, compared to its male employees.

At 290 years old, RBS, or the Royal Bank of Scotland, is not too nimble footed when it comes to gender pay parity - paying its female employees 37.2 per cent lower average hourly wages than the men on its payrolls. Old habits certainly die hard.

For a bank that traces its origins to India, where two of its first three branches were opened in the 19th century, and which, in its present avatar, is in its 49th year, the Standard Chartered bank believes in paying women money merchants almost a third lower than their male colleagues.Average hourly wages for females are 30.4 per cent less than similar wages for men.

United States' largest bank, and the world's second most valuable bank in terms of market capitalisation, J P Morgan Chase can probably claim a convoluted compliment for itself by being among the best of the worst.For every dollar it pays the male bankers, J P Morgan Chase pays 74 cents to its female employees - a difference of 26 per cent.

The splinter group from the break up of J P Morgan over 80 years back, Morgan Stanley betters its progenitor by slender margin of a couple of percentage points.Women employees at Morgan Stanley earn 24 per cent less average hourly wages than their male colleagues.

With over a trillion dollars in assets, the second largest bank by assets in the United States, Bank of America, is a little less stingy then its peers across the US and the UK, when it comes to paying its female staffers wages that are more than 80 per cent of what it pays its male staffers.The difference? 17.1 per cent lower wages for women vis-a-vis men.