Friday’s Headlines: Jefferies and Goldman Vie for Top Wall St. Pay

Investment banks compete for everything. Today’s race highlight is comps, and Jefferies and Goldman Sachs are neck-and-neck for the top—increasingly leaving JPMorgan Chase in the dust, according to a Bloomberg story.

At mid-year, Jefferies’ 3,809 employees earn an average of $228,407, while Goldman’s 32,300 employees make an average of $225,789. Comps for J.P. Morgan’s 26,553 investment bank employees was $184,989, or at least 18 percent less than Jefferies and Goldman—compared with a 10 percent difference last year. At Morgan Stanley, average pay for its 58,627 was $137,548.

Goldman counts consultants and temps in its headcount, while Jefferies only counts full-time employees, and has been “luring talent from larger rivals to expand in the wake of 2008’s credit crisis,” the wire reports.

Total comps at J.P. Morgan’s investment bank was down 16 percent; Goldman’s fell 14 percent, Jefferies’ fell less than 1 percent and Morgan Stanley’s total comp budget fell 9.5 percent for the first half of 2012.

 

Other News:

Barclays Q2 profit fell 76 percent on scandal settlements. [DealBook]

Wells Fargo will expand its headcount in Asia by 10 percent over the next three years. [Bloomberg]

Lazard and Evercore notched strong Q2 advisory-revenue gains. [Dow Jones]

Nomura’s trading scandal is cramping its global expansion plans. [WSJ]

Advisor ranking highlights Nomura’s rise by three places. [NY Times]

Fidelity expands into securities lending. [WSJ]

J.P. Morgan plans to launch blended target-date. [Investment News]

China’s central bank invested $500 million with Blackstone. [WSJ]

At J.P. Morgan: Matthew Zames and Frank Bisignano were promoted to co-COO; Jes Staley moved from CEO of corporate and investment bank to chairman. [DealBook]

KKR’s Q2 profit more than doubled on holding value. [Financial Times]

British buyout firm 3i is cutting back. [Reuters]