In general though, finance firms (at least the publicly traded ones where we can see their books) reserve a higher proportion of revenue for compensation compared to tech firms. Not entirely sure at HFT shops, but I think that may be what the grandparent comment may be referring to (and I agree that we could do better if our goal were to be more equitable -- but no one has an incentive to do this on a grand scale yet)

That's the thing. There are only a couple of publicaly traded HFT firms and they are tiny. Their compensation looks more like a technology firm than a "finance" firm.

Remember, that the vast majority of people who make large compensation in a finance firm are essentially sales force. They are selling complex products, financial services, or operations.