Lunchtime Links: Oswald Grubel has confessed the terrible truth to a leading Swiss paper

Oswald Grubel is a wit. In a weekend interview with Sonntag he took a little time out to discuss the Swiss sense of humour and chuckled.

However, in the same interview, Oswald said what everyone knows but has been afraid to admit for fear they will never laugh again: banking compensation is in freefall. Total compensation is "nosediving," said Grubel, adding that it is "much lower" than it was a few years ago.

There's some sign of this already. Our own figures suggest average compensation per head fell 20% at UBS's investment bank in the first half. But 20% isn't nosedive territory, so there's possibly more to come.

Does this mean people should avoid careers in banking? Oswald thinks not. If you have a predisposition for banking, you should follow it, he says: everyone will always need money and banks provide people with the money they need. In the process, Oswald says bankers get to learn about human behaviour as well as the markets. So there we have it. Banking is a psychologically compelling career, even if pay is plummeting faster than SocGen's share price.

Vince Cable: : 'An obvious response is that instead of passing [the costs] on to customers, banks should pay by reducing their lavish remuneration packages and payments to shareholders.' (Daily Mail)

Up to 75% of Evolution investment bankers could be made redundant as Investec cherry-picks the people it wants. (The Times)

SocGen's low exposure to risky sovereign bonds, its solid long term funding positions and all the other things mentioned in today's presentation are irrelevant. It's the banks short term funding profile that counts. (Alphaville)

SocGen is cutting costs in its corporate and investment bank by 5%. (AFP)

Jamie Dimon says credit flows will double in the next decade - credit trading is a growth business. (Financial Times)

Jamie Dimon's moronic Financial Times interview. (Reuters)

New middle and back office jobs were down 20% year on year last month in London. (Independent)

Attention human trader, you are no longer needed. (Ritholtz)

The climate of markets going into meltdown and banks implementing mass job cuts has prompted record numbers of City workers to seek treatment for addiction. (Guardian)

When Alistair Darling met Fred Goodwin, alone at home. (Guardian)