Banks Lock in Key Staff With Big Retention Bonuses as Private Credit Circles

Senior investment bankers are being offered lucrative pay packets that will keep them at their firms for years. Can they stave off the appeal of private credit and private equity?

Top executives at some of the leading Wall Street, European and boutique investment banks have been handed retention packages worth tens of millions of dollars in a bid to stop their heads being turned by the competition.

Meanwhile, bonuses have been hiked for ‘material risk takers’ following a surge in trading and investment banking revenues last year.

“Banks are concerned about the pull of jobs and often much higher levels of pay at alternative firms,” said Alan Johnson, founder of Wall Street compensation consultants Johnson Associates. “There comes a point where you reach a maximum for normal base salary and bonuses in banking and need to find a way to pay without upsetting the internal hierarchy.”

Financial News / March 23, 2025