I think the important bit of info is that they work for a bank, not that they write CSS. If I look at the equivalent compensation for people who work for me, t

I think the important bit of info is that they work for a bank, not that they write CSS. If I look at the equivalent compensation for people who work for me, the vast majority of developers in the UK and US earn > $100k. Like for like the US employees earn more but that's almost wholly swallowed up in other costs (basically healthcare and our US healthcare plan isn't particularly bad). And the FAANGs and hedge funds, in my experience, have a reasonably similar dynamic. The simple fact is that we generally don't hire for PL knowledge except in very specific circumstances (KDB for example). If all we wanted was a coder, there are much more cost effective options than hiring someone, regardless of location.