Lunchtime Links: "Merrill chose to make millionaires out of 700 employees"

12 February 2009

2 minute read

Lunchtime Links: "Merrill chose to make millionaires out of 700 employees"

Even though junior bankers at Merrill are complaining of poor bonuses this year, it seems the bank stumped up for its senior staff in the days before it became one with BofA. The New York Times yesterday reported that New York state attorney general has unearthed the payment of $1m bonuses to 700 Merrill employees. Four people received a combined $120m. 20 people received more than $8m each and 53 people were paid more than $5m each. It could, however, have been worse: Merrill bankers could have received a combined $5.8bn in bonuses instead of the mere $3.2bn they ended up with.

Ken "Find some humility" Lewis. (Telegraph)

$1 salary, no bonus for Vikram. (Bloomberg)

Commerzbank's review of Dresdner bonuses is taking a little longer than expected. (Bloomberg)

Cuts coming at Unicredit. (Bloomberg)

Profits halve, but no "massive redundancies" at Schroders - just in IT. (Financial Times)

Ex-Lehman banker joins Insight Investments (Financial News)

A guide to work in far flung places. (Financial News)

Head of MS distressed debt trading resigns. (Bloomberg)

Yet another top banker joins a boutique. (Financial News)

It is no coincidence that the smaller, more-focused firms-the ones that are closer to their clients-are being flooded with resumes. (Daily Beast)

Pay bankers more than other workers because their talents are so rare? You must be joking. (Financial Times)

"Investment banks are experts in marketing career structures. But if you really think about it, it's all smoke and mirrors." (Financial Times)

Michael Moore wants banker help with his new film. (Bloomberg)

There's work on ther railways. (Telegraph)

Passive aggressive ways to rebel at work due to no bonus. (Bankersball)

AUTHOReFinancialCareers UK

Insider Comment

Ch
Che
14 February 2009
So the question is one more time why do they fire hundreds of thousands in redundancy if such bonuses are still paid in the industry? Indeed Revolution Revolution
Reply
ML
ML employee
13 February 2009
Love IB, the process is slightly more complicated than that ;-) And I think commissions made get fairly credited back to the research analyst, salesperson, sales-trader and trader. The 20% or so I get per trade makes sense given a lot of the time the trade wouldn't have even happened had I not highlighted / pushed the research note, or my own original idea, to the client.
And anyway, the proportion we get as a bonus of the commission we make is relatively small, typically under 10% of the gross commission total, so I think its fair!
Reply
EB
EB
13 February 2009
Great comment Love IB. I too am baffled by how these glorified telesales chimps seem to consider themselves worthy of all that cash. You did not earn millions for the bank. The SEAT earned that money, you just happened to be sitting in it.
Reply
Lo
Love IB
13 February 2009
To the Salesman who makes "ML millions" : "I don't know what you are talking about" like Ken would say.
Just because you are an intermediary in transactions involving millions of dollars doesn't make you worthy of a big cut. What value do you add to the process apart from answering the phone talking to your trader and get your sales credit. I have seen so-called senior salesmen on big dough that barely understand the products they are selling and cannot use excel properly.
Reply
ML
ML employee
13 February 2009
I made ML millions last year as a high-performing salesman.
I lost no money.
I acknowledge that I should get slightly hurt due to other part of the bank that didn't perform, that is the cyclical nature of banking.
But I don't deserve to be more than 30% down because of it. THAT would be daylight robbery!
You don't get it do you. If I make millions and don't get enough of a bonus I will go elsewhere - even in this environment I'm experienced enough to switch.
Reply