Lunchtime Links: Some additional and depressing news about the state of senior bonuses at Credit Suisse
The Credit Suisse bonus picture is muddy. On one hand, there are those toxic bonuses, paid to senior staff in 2008, now thought to be worth lots of money. On the other, there are nasty deferrals, allegedly stopping even non-code staff accessing their bonuses for a long time. And now there is the immense disappointment of not getting anything from the Performance Incentive Plan this year.
To recap: in 2010 Credit Suisse's Performance Incentive Plan provided a retirement moment for those fortunate enough to participate in it. According to the Financial Times, it paid out 1.9bn to 400 people last April. According to headhunters, some individual Credit Suisse bankers in London received 20m. Even better, this may only have been taxed at 18%.
This year, there will be none of that. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Performance Incentive Plan will not be paying out during 2011 because payouts are predicated upon the Credit Suisse share price averaging more than CHF47 francs between January and the end of March. Right now, it's only CHF42.
RBS's US investment banking arm almost single-handedly kept it in the black last year. (Financial News)
Profits per head at UBS's US investment bank are three times higher than at Goldman Sachs. (Financial News)
Only partner-level staff are spared the Goldman cull, but they're expected to leave after 5-7 years anyway. (Telegraph)
Goldman Sachs has hired a lawyer who formerly worked for the Serious Fraud Office. (Finalternatives)
Are Lloyd Blankfein and Gary Cohen leaving Goldman Sachs to set up a hedge fund? (Finalternatives)
Launching Hedge Funds in Asia: A J.P. Morgan Guide. (JPMorgan)
Providing BarCap's capital ratio doesn't fall below 7%, Bob Diamond will get an additional 160k from his cocos. (Guardian)
BAML has also hired UBS's ex-head of prime brokerage. (Financial News)
London has consolidated its position as the world's leading financial centre. (Financial Times)
The budget could include a new flat rate tax for non doms. (Sunday Times)
Reforming British banks could cost 15bn a year. (Telegraph)
Barclays makes more noises about leaving Britain for the US. (Sunday Times)
Hedge fund manager returns to England after uptight Swiss neighbour fines him for dog soiling his lawn. (Guardian)
People are getting 60% stock bonuses in India too. (TimesofIndia)
Sergei Aleynikov gets a sentence an unprecedented 5x higher than recommended by probation officials, blows kisses as leaves the courtroom. (NewYorkTimes)
Japanese investment banks aren't recruiting graduates right now. (JapanTimes)
"Teaching is far tougher than banking and the money, of course, is much worse. So I am hoping that at some point soon, the satisfaction and fulfilment that the profession is known for will start to kick in." (Financial News)
Goldman Sachs preferred stock is paying Warren Buffet $15 a second. (CNBC)
