Wall Street Bonus Outlook Is Mixed Bag

Wall Street’s bonus season should be a good one for those who manage other people’s money. But for many bond traders and merger bankers, 2013 could be a year to forget.  Year-end bonuses among 18 large banks, securities firms and asset managers could rise 5% to 10% this year, paced by higher payouts for asset-management and…

Banks Face a Profit Squeeze

The nation’s biggest banks are getting squeezed from almost every direction, quarterly reports show, from slumping mortgage demand to a sluggish economy and tumultuous bond markets. The result has been a lackluster third quarter for lenders from behemoths like J.P. Morgan Chase JPM +0.62% & Co. and Citigroup Inc. to regional banks such as PNC Financial Services…

For U.S. Bond Traders, the Grinch May Steal Bonuses

Overall, bonuses on fixed-income, currency, and commodity trading desks will likely be down 10 percent to 15 percent, said Alan Johnson, head of the Wall Street compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates. It could be the third or fourth year in a row in which some Wall Street bond traders get $0 bonus checks, he added. Just…

The Morning Risk Report: Rip Van Regulator?

As reported yesterday by the Wall Street Journal, Daniel P. Stipano, deputy chief counsel, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, called on banks to tie compensation to compliance, and said, “If you don’t do that, you’re really just engaging in empty talk.” The reaction from some in the industry: where have you been for the…

Consultant Relations Pros Shun Long-Term Comp

Consultant relations professionals are resisting calls to make their compensation more long term to align it with the duration of their clients’ investments, recruiters say, following recent European proposals along those lines that would have affected U.S. managers with E.U. arms. In July, the European Union rejected legislation that would have capped asset managers’ bonuses…

Wall Street Bonuses to Get Another Bump

Wall Street may feel as if it’s suffering – coming under more intense scrutiny from regulators, and anxious about the impact of the Federal Reserve’s much-anticipated “tapering” of quantitative easing. Its most recent crop of earnings reports have suggested otherwise, though. The Street is doing quite nicely – and, according to a just-released survey from compensation consulting…