Cuomo Unleashes Unholy Wrath On All Banker Bonuses

Andrew Cuomo just will not let this one go. The scandal over the $4 billion in Merrill Lynch bonuses that was paid in December (paid out just days ahead of the BofA merger conclusion, and in advance of disclosing a $15 billion quarterly loss, and a $27 billion annual loss), is reaching epic proportions, and rightfully so. Cuomo is particularly incensed over the allocation of the bonuses, which he notes does not come down to $91,000 per Merrill employee, but has a very skewed pyramidal structure, with 696 people receiving bonuses of over $1 million. The full disclosure from the letter is below:

• The top four bonus recipients received a combined $121 million;
• The next four bonus recipients received a combined $62 million;
• The next six bonus recipients received a combined $66 million;
• Fourteen individuals received bonuses of $1 0 million or more and combined they received more than $250 million;
• 20 individuals received bonuses of $8 million or more;
• 53 individuals received bonuses of $5 million or more;
• 149 individuals received bonuses of $3 million or more;
• Overall, the top 149 bonus recipients received a combined $858 million;
• 696 individuals received bonuses of $1 million or more.

What this means is that the populist wave will now turn away from compensation at banking executive committees, which may or may not be capped at half a million, to those traders, analysts, advisors and brokers who actually make money for the firm, and as such will have their bonuses scrutinized with a fine-toothed comb. It also implies that all those JP Morgan Managing Directors who were hoping to fly under the radar while they were earning 20 times more than Jamie Dimon, are about to get the royal boot.

Full Cuomo letter here:

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