Bankers at Goldman Sachs could be in line for record bonuses as compensation on Wall Street looks set to rebound in spite of problems in the wider economy.
By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent
Published: 5:21PM BST 02 Jul 2009
Goldman, which continues to attract the very best investment bankers and is chaired by Lloyd Blankfein, is on track to pay staff more than it did in 2007, itself a record year.
Having recently repaid its $10bn (£6bn) bail-out from the US Treasury, thus releasing it from government compensation legislation, the bank is on track to produce a total compensation pot of $20bn this year, according to analysis of analysts' estimates by the Wall Street Journal.
If Goldman manages to deliver the figure, it would mean an average compensation of $700,000 per employee.
Although the pot covers healthcare and other costs including share options, as well as pay and bonuses, the figure is still almost twice the average $363,000 paid out last year. In addition, it is slightly higher than the average $661,000 received in 2007.
The averages are somewhat meaningless, however, given some bankers will receive substantially more than the average and many will receive a lot less.
At the end of Goldman's first quarter, the compensation pot stood at $4.71bn, up by 18pc from the same quarter in 2008, indicating that the analyst's estimates may not be far out.
However, the final figure depends on business for the whole year, and it is known that Goldman does not begin discussing bonuses until the middle of the fourth quarter.
A Goldman spokesman said that "any estimates on full-year compensation are highly speculative" noting that the bank has not yet released its second-quarter results, due to be published on July 14.
By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent
Published: 5:21PM BST 02 Jul 2009
Goldman, which continues to attract the very best investment bankers and is chaired by Lloyd Blankfein, is on track to pay staff more than it did in 2007, itself a record year.
Having recently repaid its $10bn (£6bn) bail-out from the US Treasury, thus releasing it from government compensation legislation, the bank is on track to produce a total compensation pot of $20bn this year, according to analysis of analysts' estimates by the Wall Street Journal.
If Goldman manages to deliver the figure, it would mean an average compensation of $700,000 per employee.
Although the pot covers healthcare and other costs including share options, as well as pay and bonuses, the figure is still almost twice the average $363,000 paid out last year. In addition, it is slightly higher than the average $661,000 received in 2007.
The averages are somewhat meaningless, however, given some bankers will receive substantially more than the average and many will receive a lot less.
At the end of Goldman's first quarter, the compensation pot stood at $4.71bn, up by 18pc from the same quarter in 2008, indicating that the analyst's estimates may not be far out.
However, the final figure depends on business for the whole year, and it is known that Goldman does not begin discussing bonuses until the middle of the fourth quarter.
A Goldman spokesman said that "any estimates on full-year compensation are highly speculative" noting that the bank has not yet released its second-quarter results, due to be published on July 14.
