When Wall Street firms announce their 2013 bonuses in December and January, employees will see an average bump of 5% to 10%, according to a closely watched compensation survey put out by New York compensation consultants Johnson Associates, which releases three Wall Street pay reports a year. To collect its data, the company queried eight of the nation’s largest investment and commercial banks and 10 of the biggest asset-management firms. It also looked at publicly available data.
Though the overall picture is a positive one for Wall Streeters, with bonuses rising for the second straight year, some employees will do worse than others. According to Alan Johnson, Johnson Associates’ managing director, firms will pay out differing amounts to different divisions. “A firm is really a combination of a bunch of businesses,” he explains….
“Banks are making a lot of money and they’re all fundamentally healthy,” says Johnson. “Their risks are under control but they still have not fully recovered from the financial crisis. The reality is the world economy has not recovered.” There is obviously still time before the end of the year and an uptick in trading or deals could change the bonus picture.
Forbes / November 7, 2013