bonus watch

  • 09 Feb 2012 at 2:51 PM

Bonus Watch ’12: Barclays

Bonus conversations are said to be going down at Barclays Capital this afternoon, after the close. So, no details yet, but in the meantime, a few things to consider: Continue reading »

Earlier today, as in a few minutes ago, we learned that UBS announced it would claw back 2010 bonuses for senior-ranking employees in the investment bank. This may have put a damper on some people’s commute home but in happier news? Those individuals will be getting paid for last year’s work (albeit at a slightly reduced rate) and the only strings attached are that they can never leave UBS. Continue reading »

Something you might have picked up on recently is that while UBS may possess many strengths, investment banking is not one of them. The unit’s “continued losses” were to blame for net profit falling 76% in the fourth quarter, there was the matter of their little rogue trader, and not even the higher-ups in Zurich believe in the group anymore, announcing that they’d be “scaling back on investment-banking” considerably. So it probably shouldn’t come as much of a shock that, as predicted, bonuses will be down at least 60 percent from last year, though presumably there will still be some anger and acting out to deal with from those whose compensation will take a hit. But should anyone even so much as entertain the thought of coming at i-bank chief Carsten Kengeter with their own personal shit and claims/threats they have a right mind to take that offer from RBS, know this: Continue reading »

…compensation costs remained stubbornly high, due in part to management’s decision to pay employees most of their bonuses immediately, rather than deferring big portions of pay to future years as some rivals have done. “We are very comfortable with our approach on deferrals at the firm and we didn’t need to increase it,” Chief Executive Kenneth Jacobs said in an interview. “There’s just no free lunch there.” [Reuters]

Forty-five percent of respondents said “bonuses matched their expectations,” 11 percent received “a higher payout than they had anticipated,” and 34 percent were “disappointed by their bonus.” The results included financial services employees whose compensation was communicated by January 16, which means it excludes those who work at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank (Update: and UBS). [Bloomberg]

Some employees are preemptively miffed and, frankly, insulted.

“Deutsche bonus structure for Associates-Directors was revealed today:

*Up to eur50, all cash.
*Eur50-100, 70% deferred. Yes…
*Eur100+, 85% deferred.”

Continue reading »

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC’s chairman on Friday acknowledged that the bank had miscalculated the public and political reaction to the £963,000 (around $1.5 million) bonus in shares awarded to Chief Executive Stephen Hester, who subsequently turned down the payment…”We knew it would be a difficult reaction, but the speed and scale of it took us by surprise,” Mr. Hampton said in a briefing with reporters. [WSJ]

The bonus is you get to keep your job: Continue reading »

Tough calls. Continue reading »

Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse made some of the year’s biggest cuts in compensation for investment bankers, averaging as much as 30 percent, as Wall Street firms grappled with lower revenue.  Morgan Stanley, owner of the world’s largest brokerage, will also cap cash awards and defer more payouts, people with knowledge of the plans have said, while Zurich-based Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-largest bank, plans to give a portion of senior employees’ bonuses in bonds backed by derivatives. New York-based Citigroup may cut some bonuses in the securities and banking unit as much as 70 percent…Recipients may find they do better with shares instead of cash, according to Paul Sorbera, president of Wall Street executive search firm Alliance Consulting. “If things turn around, it may really turn out to be a windfall for them,” said Sorbera, whose firm is based in New York. “Some of these stocks are off 80 percent.” The S&P Financials Index advanced 8.6 percent this year as of last week’s close, and Bank of America Corp., ranked second by assets in the U.S., was leading the Dow Jones Industrial Average with a 31 percent advance. [Bloomberg]

“People are furious.” Continue reading »