Lunchtime Links: Up to 80% of senior US bankers' bonuses are now deferred; the delusional pay expectations of back office workers
Morgan Stanley has now joined Goldman Sachs in forewarning its employees that bonuses will be miniscule this year, US institutions are now deferring up to 80% of senior executives' variable pay, according the Financial Times, yet those in non-revenue generating roles seem wilfully optimistic nonetheless.
Robert Walters has just released the findings of its latest compensation survey, in which it quizzed over 1,600 City professionals working in 'non-revenue generating' jobs. The results are surprising, verging on delusional.
Nearly 80% of those surveyed are expecting a pay rise, 62% of these people think it will be up to 6% of their current salary, 90% are still expecting a bonus and 75% are considering switching jobs upon receipt of this.
"Rebasing of base salaries in recent years and a relatively positive compensation round in 2010 has led professionals to believe that overall compensation levels will be at least as high as last year. Whether this is realistic is questionable given current market volatility," said Toby Fowlston, managing director of permanent recruitment at Robert Walters.
Indeed. Aside from the individual banks warning that bonuses will be awful this year, the Telegraph reported last week that most London-based bankers have become resigned to this fact: "People are starting to realise this year will be much worse than in 2008," one senior banker told the newspaper.
Hong Kong bankers can now only expect salary increases of 10-15% (Finance Asia)
Nomura has hired two ex-JP Morgan leisure research analysts (Financial News)
Brevan Howard, Caxton Associates and GLG Partners have done very well out of the current turmoil (Financial Times)
UBS has hired four investment bankers from Credit Agricole's now defunct Dubai team (Bloomberg)
French banks' stock rises on bailout talk (Bloomberg)
F&C chief executive, Alain Grisay is stepping down ( Times)
Royal Bank of Canada wants to more than double its private banking assets in Asia (Reuters)
