Hedge fund guru George Soros claims bonus anger is justified
BILLIONAIRE investor George Soros at the weekend became the latest high-profile financier to wade into the bonus debate as he claimed the backlash against banking fat cats on lucrative pay deals is justified.
Speaking in an interview about large profits reported in recent weeks by Wall Street’s biggest banks, Soros said: “Those earnings are not the achievement of risk-takers. These are gifts, hidden gifts from the government, so I don’t think that those monies should be used to pay bonuses.”
He added: “There’s a resentment which I think is justified.”
Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management, also said in the Financial Times interview that the economy would benefit from remuneration caps at banks driving talented risk-takers into the hedge fund industry.
“That would push risk-takers who are good at taking risks out of Goldman Sachs into hedge funds, where they actually belong, because hedge funds take risks with their own capital, not with deposits or with government guarantees,” he said.
Goldman Sachs led the pack of US bank giants recently as strength in fixed income boosted its third quarter earnings fourfold to $3.2bn (£1.96bn).