Lunchtime Links: Formerly impoverished RBS bankers to be paid 5m
If anywhere stands to lose people after bonuses have been paid this year, it's RBS. Not only is the bank, somewhat foolishly, intending to allow many of its bankers to cash out of 50% of their bonuses immediately after they're paid, it's also heavily under the thumb of the Treasury.
This may explain RBS's apparent decision to pay comparatively generously. For, while the UK government's now able to determine both the "quantum and structure" of bonuses at RBS, it doesn't appear to be doing much in the way of damage.
According to Robert Peston, RBS bankers who haven't had so much as a whiff of seven figures ever before have been informed they'll earn over 5m for 2009. And the Telegraph reports that a member of the Public Accounts Committee has spotted that RBS's bonus payment terms are more generous than ABN AMRO's ever were.
RBS bankers in receipt of 1m+ may, however, find their employer's generosity curbed by the FSA. The Sunday Times reports that the regulator is imposing a new mandatory deferral of 60% on pay in excess of 1m for over three years. Salary and bonus will contribute to the 1m total, but only the bonus element will be deferred.
Sophie Black, director of performance and reward at E&Y, says the FSA's new rules will apply to the 26 (unnamed) firms specified in the FSA's last compensation report. These are likely to include all leading investment banks, but won't include the likes of Deutsche, BNP Paribas and SocGen, which operate as branches in the UK.
Goldman might make its executives pay more to charity. (New York Times)
Big bonuses coming soon to JP Morgan. (Telegraph)
Deferred bonuses mean bankers have legitimate concerns about their own liquidity. (Wall Street Journal)
Yes, most banks will 'absorb' the bonus tax. (Financial Times)
A group of the biggest banks is considering legal action against the government over the tax, claiming that it breaches a number of principles of European law. (The Times)
The UK's finance industry could see up to 9,000 of its top executives move overseas because of the increase in taxes on bank bonuses, according to estimates collated by the office of the Mayor of London. (Telegraph)
Malta: the poor man's Geneva. (The Times)
Former ABN bankers resurface with their own excitingly named DCM boutique. (Financial News)
RBC - growing in wealth management. (Financial News)
Morgan Stanley has hired a new listed derivatives person from RBS. (Risk.Net)
Prepare for cauliflowers to become a delicacy because of the cold. (Guardian)
