The European Union has just saved your bonus

As a note from Deutsche Bank points out (via Alphaville), things were looking bad last week. Things were looking a little Lehmanesque.

Whether today's new and improved situation can endure will become apparent over the next few months. In the meantime, however, anyone working for a bank in Europe who has several years' bonuses tied up in the stock of their employer owes Europe a big thank you. Bank shares are soaring.

Compared to the lows of Friday, shares in Europe's leading banks were up by the following amounts at their peaks this morning:

BNP Paribas: 19.3%

SocGen: 20.9%

Credit Agricole: 17%

Deutsche Bank: 14%

RBS: 13.3%

Barclays: 17.7%

Although most banks' share prices are still substantially down on their peaks for this year, this is good news for anyone who had two thirds of last year's bonus deferred until at least 2011. It's even better news for RBS bankers who can cash out of a large proportion of their bonuses in June, and who were probably feeling a little sick on Friday.

However, the real favour, as analyst Peter Thorne at Helvea, points out, is the avoidance of another financial and economic meltdown. This would have clearly slammed a lot more than just deferred bonuses and appears to have been avoided, for the moment at least.