US banks’ bonuses outstrip UK as Goldman Sachs tops payout league
GOLDMAN Sachs’s directors received the biggest bonuses in the sector this year, according to figures published yesterday by Emolument.com.
The iconic US investment bank paid an average of £194,000, well above second-ranked Morgan Stanley’s £170,000 average.
All of the top five payers are US banks, followed by European banks Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, at £135,000 and £121,000 respectively.
Next is Nomura, paying £119,000, before the first UK bank makes the list in ninth place – HSBC, paying an average bonus of £116,000, the salary benchmarking website said.
Barclays is the other British bank to make an appearance in the rankings, coming in at 12th place with average payouts of £103,000.
However, the figures have been affected by EU red tape.
“Continuing a trend established in the last few years, we expect to see base salaries shoot up in order to circumvent bonus cap regulations, especially at director and MD level, where employees expect to see their total compensation increase substantially from previous titles,” said Emolument.com’s Alice Leguay.