Brad Hintz at Bernstein Research has had a look at what could happen to compensation at Goldman Sachs under proposed regulatory changes, and (if you work at Goldman) it doesn’t look promising. Hintz takes two scenarios and models their effects on Goldman’s results and comp costs between 2002 and 2007 in order to gauge their potential impact going forward. In scenario one, he assumes that Goldman operated as if the Volcker... Read more

Will banks continue to take a hard line on recovering hefty signing bonuses from employees who end up staying just a few years, or less? An ex-Citigroup broker's arbitration win has compensation experts wondering. A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel ruled last month that Lloyd Laughlin, who was terminated in February 2008, was required to pay $20,000 in damages and fees. That's just a fraction of the $142,000 Citi's Smith Barney... Read more

Following in Wall Street's footsteps, the largest UK and Europe-based investment banks slashed compensation as a fraction of revenue in 2009. Analysts remain divided over whether last year's compensation ratios represent a "new normal" or a one-off event. Look for politics to produce a large part of the answer. HSBC, Barclays, RBS and Deutsche Bank are among institutions who lowered their comp ratios, according to The Wall Street Journal. HSBC's ratio... Read more

Two ugly facets of our industry's culture – gender discrimination and age discrimination – are alleged in a lawsuit brought by two former vice presidents at AIG Financial Products. That's AIG's infamous derivatives business - the world's best-known poster boy for financial innovation gone wrong. The suit filed this week slaps on another unenviable image: "boys' club." Bloomberg News reports: Susan Potter, 56, alleged that Joseph Cassano, the former head of AIG... Read more

Total bonuses paid to securities industry employees in New York City for 2009 climbed 17 percent from 2008 but remained far below levels of 2005 through 2007, a state government report found. However, restrained bonuses were accompanied by large salary hikes in many cases, along with changes in payment structure that cloud the comparison. The industry-wide bonus payout to New York-based Wall Street employees rose to $20.3 billion from $17.4 billion... Read more

Deutsche Bank belatedly hopped on the deferral bandwagon, but in a way that likely spells less pain for employees than some other big global banks. Deutsche's new deferral scheme kicks in for bonuses above 100,000 euros ($136,000), Bloomberg News reports, citing two unnamed sources said to have direct knowledge of the plan. The marginal deferral rate begins at 25 percent and climbs to as much as 90 percent for the largest... Read more

If you're in the financial job market and employers aren't biting, it's getting harder to use the recession as an excuse. "Experts who track employment trends on Wall Street suggest that banks and securities firms are indeed feeling comfortable enough these days to at least start contemplating the idea of adding workers," reports CNNMoney. Employers cited as turning the corner toward adding heads include Bank of America (in its retail... Read more

In case you're wondering if the government's large holding of Citigroup shares blocks the bank from paying employees competitively, Citi says the answer is no. "We're not fighting with any hands behind our back," CFO John Gerspach told investors at a Credit Suisse conference Thursday, according to Reuters. He says Citi's compensation was competitive in 2009 and it's now subject to the same pay oversight as major competitors. Citi repaid $20... Read more

And the winner is … John G. Stumpf. The Wells Fargo chief executive led the financial industry for 2009 with $18.7 million in compensation, the New York Times reports, citing an analysis by the compensation research firm Equilar. JPMorgan Chase CEO James Dimon came in second place with $17.6 million. A less-known figure within JPMorgan, Chief Investment Officer Ina R. Drew, was paid about $13 million. Her correct calls on interest... Read more

Collectively, senior bankers at UBS are CHF300bn ($282 million) worse off than they might have been if the bank had made a net profit for 2009. Bloomberg reports that Oswald Gruebel dispatched a memo yesterday saying that the bank’s net loss for 2009 will trigger UBS’s bonus clawback mechanism for the first time ever. In 2008 Bloomberg says UBS deferred CHF900 million of bonuses to be paid in equal parts in 2010,... Read more

Goldman Sachs doesn't plan to be so stingy with pay next year, the firm's CFO, David Vinair, told an investor conference. Noting that Goldman's top executives, including CEO Lloyd Blankfein, received relatively modest all-stock payouts this year, Viniar said, "People ask me if this is the new normal," then added, "There is no formula. We tried to strike the balance right, and we'll try to strike the balance right this... Read more

Wonderful news: The Commander-in-Chief just called a truce in the long-running war against your paycheck. President Obama used recently announced share-based bonus awards to the chief executives of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs to distance himself from the stance taken by some of his allies who contend that bank employees are grossly overpaid – not just at the C-suite level, but up and down the entire title hierarchy. "I know both... Read more

Will Goldman Sachs' decision to hold five top executives' year-end compensation to $9 million in "shares at risk" usher in an industry-wide effort to rein in compensation not only for CEOs and other senior leaders, but for the bulk of professionals who receive most of their yearly compensation in a variable lump after year-end? The answer may rest on whether the move stems the bleeding in the bank's reputation in America's... Read more

"Peanut-butter pay." That's a model the latest bonus survey data suggest Wall Street firms are moving ever further away from. "Firms have gotten much better at differentiating the good and the greats and the so-sos," compensation consultant Alan Johnson told CFO Magazine. Investment banks, he says, are stepping up their use of technology to avoid spreading the bonus pool "evenly, like peanut butter." He explains that firms "have gotten more sophisticated... Read more

Bonus payouts to Wall Street professionals didn't keep pace with 2009's dramatic profit rebound for many large institutions, eFinancialCareers' annual bonus survey reveals. Less than half the respondents (46 percent) reported receiving a larger bonus than a year earlier. Another 23 percent received the same bonus as last year, while 31 percent said their bonus was smaller this time around. A year ago, many financial professionals saw their bonuses slashed as... Read more

When Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and other top-tier institutions slashed compensation-to-revenue ratios for 2009, many observers concluded employees would suffer. However, headlines Thursday suggest employers are giving back with one hand what they took away with the other. Hefty salary hikes, concessionary loans and not-so-restricted share grants are among the tools companies are using to offset the impact of bonus payouts composed of less cash and more stock. The Wall Street... Read more

While Goldman Sachs employees might be feeling less than flush after the firm allocated no additional funds for compensation last quarter, their stock-laced bonus payouts did get a bump last week from an unexpected source: President Obama's plan to overhaul banking. Goldman shares awarded to staff and executives alike were priced 8 percent cheaper as the U.S. stock market sold off Thursday and Friday largely in response to the White House... Read more