COMMENT: I'm a senior banker at Deutsche Bank and I believe that my bonus will be big
I'm a senior investment banker at Deutsche Bank in London and yes, I've read the news. I understand that the bank's bonus pool is supposed be down 10% on last year. I appreciate too that the cost target is a constraint and that some people may see their bonuses cut by 15% to 20%, possibly more. However, there are various reasons why I also think that people like me will be rewarded when bonuses are announced in a few months' time.
Firstly, a stream of senior people have left our franchise over the past year. There are plenty of them, from Conor Hennerbry to Kristian Triggle, Tadhg Flood, Claire Brooskby, and Rainer Polster. Many left in the second half of 2018 and generated revenues up until their exits. - We're hopeful those revenues will be diverted to paying those of us still here.
Secondly, I think that senior management understand the gravity of the situation. People who have remained loyal to Deutsche during the recent difficult years have not done so because we lack alternatives. We have done so because we want to give this bank a chance. We like our jobs here. We like Deutsche Bank and want to stay. However, we have all seen colleagues leaving for better jobs elsewhere. Some of us have even made a move to leave but been wooed back by Deutsche's promises of high pay. If bonuses are dreadful here again this year, a lot of people will lose patience and decide to take the risk of trying something different.
Lastly, I understand that CEO Christian Sewing appreciates the dynamic that has afflicted the allocation of bonuses at Deutsche Bank for far too long. - For years, a cadre of senior managers who were not themselves dealmakers, kept a large proportion of the bonus pool for themselves. In this way, the bank squandered its bonuses on no-name bureaucrats without the kind of profiles that would enable them to get hired elsewhere. Because of this, the dealmakers who brought in the revenues were underpaid, and many decided to move on. I think that Sewing now understands there is no value in overpaying internal power players while underpaying the people who know the clients. - Or at least, I sincerely hope he does, for Deutsche Bank's sake.
George Grisham is a pseudonym
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