The only FX trader who'll get paid this year?

Unsurprisingly, FX traders aren't feeling enthusiastic about their pay. With banks paying $4.3bn in fines and regulators demanding that traders feel the wrath of those fines in their pockets, trading bonuses should really be negative this year. In reality, they'll probably be zero. And yet... one senior FX trader has managed to rise escape 2014 pay death. He is Ardalan Gharagozlou, the former head of FX trading at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt.

For those unfamiliar with Gharagozlou's case, he was named head of FX at Deutsche Bank in 2010. In 2011 he earned a bonus of  €2.7m and a salary of around €265k. And in February 2013 (seemingly before being paid a bonus for 2012), he was fired for the alleged manipulation of Euribor rates.

Gharagozlou and three colleagues challenged their dismissal. In April this year a Frankfurt court ruled that Deutsche should give them their jobs back. However, while two junior traders were reinstated, Deutsche was seemingly unable to find equivalent positions for Gharagozlou and his colleague Jörg Vogt, a senior trader. Last month, Reuters reported that the two men received an out of court settlement.

The[efc_twitter text=" word among FX traders and headhunters in London is that Gharagozlou's settlement was very handsome indeed"]. "They've paid him to compensate for his lost bonus in 2012 and for the loss of future earnings," alleges one headhunter. Deutsche declined to comment. Other FX traders can but look on in envy.