Who didn't get paid?

We asked headhunters to give us the lowdown on who's cheesed off and who's not.

First, who's not - most Goldman Sachs bankers are reportedly smiling from ear to ear, as are their colleagues at Morgan Stanley. "The fixed income bonus pool at Goldman Sachs was up 30-35% on last year," says Lee Thacker, partner at Heidrick & Struggles in London.

Who's happy but not elated? Bear Stearns is rumoured to have paid "OK", according to headhunters. Dresdner is reputed to be "patchy", with credit derivatives staff well paid, but others not necessarily (but happy to have kept their jobs). "Bonuses at Dresdner were alright, but anything compared to nothing is alright," says Jason Kennedy at Kennedy Associates.

More interestingly, there are rumours of rankle at Lehman Brothers, where some FX salespeople are allegedly grumbling, and a gaggle of established senior M&A bankers are said to have seen revenues diverted to cover commitments made to recent hires. "It's been a tough year for Lehman bankers," says the head of corporate finance at one London search firm. "Their bonuses have been eaten by guarantees."

Lehman Brothers declines to comment. A spokeswoman for Dresdner rejects allegations of discontent, however: "Our bonus pool was considerably up on last year so the majority of people should have been happy and to my knowledge are. We reward for performance. Some people I guess would always like more."

Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and JPMorgan are all expected to announce bonuses in the coming week. Watch this space for the alleged outcome.