Lunchtime Links: 15 years ago, hardly anyone at Barclays' investment bank made 1m

In the increasingly unlikely event that the bonus tax severely curtails bonus pools this year, disappointed individuals can commiserate themselves with the thought that enormous bonuses were a relatively recent phenomenon anyway.

Writing in the Financial Times today, former Barclays CEO Martin Taylor, recalls that in the 1990s hardly anyone got paid six figures.

From my own experience, in the mid-1990s no more than four or five employees of Barclays' then investment bank were paid more than 1m, and no one got near 2m. Around the turn of the millennium across the market things began to take off, and accelerated rapidly - after a pause in 2001-03 - so that exceptionally high remuneration, not just individually, but in total, was

paid out between 2004 and 2007, writes Taylor.

Generous compensation at BarCap today could be seen as evidence of Bob Diamond's uncanny ability to nurture a successful investment bank alongside a traditional retail bank (something managed less ably by the likes of HSBC). Alternatively, it could be seen as something a little more nefarious.

Taylor argues that all banks inflated compensation by virtue of dubious means. These include: spreads on credit that took no account of default probabilities; unrealised mark-to-market profits on the trading book; and profits conjured up by taking the net present value of streams of income stretching into the future (eg. On derivatives issuance).

France will pass a law taxing bonuses above €27.5k at 50% in January; Germany won't pass such a law because it might be unconstitutional. (Bloomberg)

UK Treasury hints at extending The Tax. (Financial Times)

Myners says The Tax won't be extended. (Bloomberg)

Myners says The Tax is a one-off. (Reuters)

Despite the huge damage the tax has inflicted on the reputation of the City, Darling has only succeeded in digging an even bigger hole for RBS. (Telegraph)

Nomura has bought a London corporate finance boutique in order to expand its corporate finance business. (Telegraph)

Evercore plans to launch a US equities business in 2010. (Reuters)

Standard Chartered recruits a new head of African capital markets. (Financial News)

Has Goldman become just another bank? (Reuters)

As temperatures plummeted, Mayor Boris Johnson abandoned snowbound boroughs and told them to fend for themselves and eat each other if necessary. (Daily Mash)