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New York Comptroller Anticipates Larger Average Wall Street Bonuses In 2010
In a just released report, New York State's Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli presents his expectations for what is set to be another bumper year for Wall Street. Per the report: "The first quarter of 2010 was among the most profitable on record ($10.3 billion), but in the second quarter profits eased (to $3.8 billion) and were more in line with pre-crisis levels. It appears that profits were relatively modest in the third quarter as well, but 2010 could still be the fourth most profitable year for the securities industry in New York City." Yet here is the most relevant piece: "While it appears that the cash bonus pool will be smaller than
last year, the average bonus paid to employees in the securities
industry in New York City may be a bit larger, since the pool will be
divided among fewer workers given continued staff reductions". Money well earned. So summarizing the report - in a year when US underemployment persists at around 17%, when the US federal debt is at nosebleed levels, when well over 40 million Americans are on foodstamps, when personal bankruptcies are at the highest they have been in 5 years, when GDP is about to turn red again, when America still doesn't have a formal budget, the average banker bonus may be one the biggest ever on record. Peasants - 0; Kleptocrats - 1.
Highlights from the report:
- Wall Street earned $14.1 billion in the first half of 2010—61 percent less than in the same period last year—and revenues were down by 26.8 percent.
- Wall Street profits could total $19 billion for all of 2010—or 69 percent less than last year’s supersized record ($61.4 billion), which was fueled by federal assistance and low interest rates.
- Despite the sharp drop in profitability, 2010 could still be Wall Street’s fourth most profitable year in absolute dollars and the sixth best year (in at least 30 years) on an inflation-adjusted basis.
- One of every six jobs lost in New York City during the recession was in the securities industry. Job losses in the securities industry could reach 38,000 before employment growth resumes.
- Total wages paid to securities industry employees who work in New York City fell by 28.5 percent in 2009 (the largest decline in at least 30 years), reflecting layoffs and much smaller cash bonuses paid at the beginning of 2009 for work performed in 2008, which registered record losses.
- The average wage in the securities industry in New York City fell by a record 20.5 percent in 2009 to $311,330—still 4.9 times higher than the average in the rest of the private sector ($63,650).
- While the cash bonus pool for 2010 may be smaller than last year—as revenues, profits, and compensation have trended downward this year—the average bonus may be larger, given job losses.
- Household wealth fell from $65.8 trillion before the recession to $48.8 trillion in the first quarter of 2009, but then rebounded to $53.5 trillion in the second quarter of 2010.
- The delinquency rate for residential mortgages exceeded 11 percent in the first half of 2010, compared with 2 percent before the recession.
- Consumers are paying down debt and saving more as they repair their personal finances. The savings rate has risen to about 6 percent of disposable income in the spring of 2010—triple the rate in the summer of 2007.
And some more details on the ever interesting topic of banker comp:
Personal income in New York State fell by 3.1 percent in 2009—the first annual decline in 70 years. The decline was due in large part to a steep drop in employment and cash bonuses in the securities industry.
Wages (i.e., base salary and bonuses realized during the calendar year) make up the largest portion of personal income. Wages paid to securities industry employees who work in New York City fell by 28.5 percent in 2009 ($20.5 billion), the largest decline in at least 30 years (see Figure 21). This drop represents 64.3 percent of the total decline in wages that occurred in New York City in that year. The large decline reflects employment losses and a steep drop in cash bonuses for work performed in 2008, most of which were paid during the first few months of calendar year 2009.
The average wage in the securities industry in New York City posted a record decline in 2009, falling by 20.5 percent to $311,330. Average wages in the securities industry in other parts of New York State and in the rest of the nation ($202,000 and $141,980, respectively) were much lower than the average in New York City, because New York City is home to some of the most highly compensated positions in the industry, such as chief executives and investment bankers.
Securities industry wages rose by 18.5 percent in the first quarter of 2010, reflecting an increase in cash bonuses for work done in 2009, when the industry reported extraordinary record profits. Since about 30 percent of all industry wages are generally paid in the first quarter of the year, this strong gain will likely boost wages for all of 2010.
The disparity in pay between the securities industry and other private sector jobs has generally widened over the past three decades (see Figure 22). In 1981, the average wage in the securities industry was nearly twice as high as other private sector jobs, but by 2007 it was 6.2 times higher. Although the average wage in the securities industry in New York City contracted sharply in 2009, it was still 4.9 times higher than the average for all other private sector jobs in New York City ($63,650).
Wall Street Bonuses
The Office of the State Comptroller estimated that cash bonuses paid to securities industry employees located in New York City for work performed in 2009 grew by 17 percent to $20.3 billion (see Figure 23), following a 47 percent decline in 2008.2 Despite record profits, the growth in the 2009 cash bonus pool was restrained by federal intervention and the public’s outcry over the industry’s compensation practices.
Changes in compensation practices have slowed the growth in cash bonuses, with a greater share of bonuses deferred to the future. According to a global study conducted by Mercer earlier this year, many of the 61 financial firms surveyed have begun to replace cash bonuses with increased base salaries and deferred compensation.
Financial firms, like many other businesses, report compensation (i.e., base salaries, fringe benefits, and bonuses, including deferred remuneration) on an accrual basis of accounting. As such, cash bonuses paid in January and February of one year, for work performed during the prior calendar year, are reported in the prior year’s financial statements. Tracking the compensation trends of firms during the year provides insight into the size of the bonus pool, much of which will be paid out at the beginning of the following year. For example, most of the resources that were set aside by financial firms for cash bonuses during 2010 will be paid out in January and February of 2011.
The amount of revenue set aside by member firms of the New York Stock Exchange to fund compensation was down by only 4.4 percent in the first half of 2010, even though net revenues and profits were down sharply (by 26.8 percent and 61.1 percent, respectively). Compensation may have fallen further in the third quarter. In the aggregate, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase Investment Bank, and Morgan Stanley reported a 7.1 percent reduction in compensation through the third quarter of 2010.
The securities industry has reported declines in revenues, profits, and compensation as 2010 has progressed, and compensation was down compared to one year ago. While it appears that the cash bonus pool will be smaller than last year, the average bonus paid to employees in the securities industry in New York City may be a bit larger, since the pool will be divided among fewer workers given continued staff reductions. It is difficult to predict, however, the impact of regulatory reforms (both enacted and anticipated) on compensation practices, which could result in the deferral of a larger share of bonuses. An analysis of personal income tax withholding patterns, beginning in late December 2010, will clarify the change in the cash bonus pool.
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See? Obviously QE works, if you're a bankster.
I think the prior bailouts served the banks bottom line better than the treasury buys this year. That's obvious.
Would you rather have toxic assets removed from your balance sheet at full value or the Fed buying U.S. Treasuries?
As a taxpayer, given those two choices, I'll take the treasury buys. Liquidate public interest on debt. If I were the ABA, I'd be at war with the Fed's curve ball away from bank assets and toward treasuries. Oh, that's right, the ABA war on the Chairman already started very publicly. Nevermind. (If a war starts in the middle of a forest and no one hears it...)
Turn banks into utilities. They perform delegated constitutional functions and the also have access to the window. With that should come a cap on income or a statutory kickback of profits over a threshold to the Treasury, just like the Fed.
exactly. Cut the fucking banks loose and put the bankers in a noose.
This "average" bonus is because they shed a lot of the littler people. The execs will preserve their bonuses if they have to fire everyone. Seen this everywhere in the private sector over the past year or two.
I get the feeling people hate the Fed so much, if the Fed went down on them, they'd still feel like they were taking it in the shorts.
Sometimes you have to see THE MOMENT without prejudice.
At the moment, Bernank is giving the people a piece and the banks want him to stop. They banks are envisioning nightmares where the taxpayers stop paying THEM interest for public debt. There's not a lot of nuance in systems. You're either doing it or you're not. Fed either serves plutocracy or they don't. The banks are scared of a mighty philosophical flip in a mini emergency policy. They should be. This is the big one. The one argument that defined the first two American centuries, which was shut down by the banks in last century.
The public, meanwhile, is so dog-beaten by the Fed/Banks for decades, they can't see the opportunity to make a preeminent Jacksonian argument off the desperate (but Lincoln Greenback-like) workings of the Fed's chairman.
Sucks.
I want to vomit.
I'm confused...
1. Record number of foreclosures
2. Record low interest rates
3. Record number of Bankruptcies (besides law change year)
And some how, this means record profits and bonuses for the banks and bankers.. Wow.. I have a lot to learn about economics..
well, it flies right in the face of those who think that the banks are either "creditors" of anyone or will lose through inflation.
There's gonna be alot of GI Joe's with the Kung Fu grip sold this year!
Doing "god's work" sure deserves a mighty reward.
God should just come down here in person and "reward" them. I'd pay admission to see that.
social acrimony, civil unrest, and PPWP (pissed people with pitchforks).
No doubt, another "banner year" for the PigMen, who ALWAYS get advance notice of the big moves before they occur.
Nero fiddling?
12 Gauge with pistol grip, 3" double ought shot--priceless. Milestones
The Ben Bernank is helping the Goldman Sachs.
AHAH. That got stuck in my head as well.
I do not expect anyone to "revolt",
just the usual "outcry" in the media and that's it folks!
My fellow Americans are busy surviving, there is no time
to get the guns! Until that very survival depends on using them!
I don't know TJ, I am regular gun show attendee and this past weekend the aisles were full and people were buying. Saw that Moss 500 in many a different configs. I also can't remember seeing so many M4's in different configs. Maybe the some folks are getting a little bit more angry this time around.
And who among us is the least surprised by any of this?
I'm looking forward to how the MSM spin this. My vote is for "If we didn't pay the bankers like kings, then the terrorists win."
what did they actually do again? Produce? Make? Create?
Oh yeah they exchanged nothing for other nothings and received made up nothing
And here comes the bond buying
It's a controlled market, equities, bonds, commodities, EVERYTHING.
It's funny to watch this stuff going on daily, it it wasn't so sad.
Uh...bankers ARE the terrorists, fund the terrorists and protect the terrorists...get it?
To move your monie away from thes banksters and into your own pocket, take the opportunity provided by the delirious economic policy that the Fed has prescribed (POMO) and buy silver. In honor of the slain President JFK, who had issued an executive order for a silver backed currency in the summer of '63, please join me in buying as much silver as you can afford next Monday, November 22nd. Please tell your friends we are about to bring the beast to its knees.
PS if you wish to buy silver before the 22nd, consider yourself on the battlefield ;)
I've got to wonder how closely JP Morgan looks at the bank account of one of their precious metal dealers... APMEX banks with them, so i've got to wonder if JPM has a few days heads-up on big retail silver orders. They've got to be keeping an eye on APMEX ...
Agreed!
Ampex?
Well, it's hard work providing such useful services as:
creating money?
defrauding pensioners?
Man, I really hate them all.
Let it burn! Let it all burn!
We all knew that this weeks' POMO is going to the bonus pool for the pigmen, and not into the market... First things first.
Awesome... they deserve it. After all the effort you have done and are doing to not go bankrupt is genius ... they do everything themselves, right?...
Dude, switch to the white and blue flag.
Dude, switch to the white and blue flag.
And upon that news, Bernanke and his masters say "mission proceeding as planned. On to stage 2."
You gotta pay these bankers what they're worth. Otherwise, they'll be lost to overseas competition..er..what?
Cash bonus less than in 2009?
Fuck nooo!
"My bonus is over the ocean, my bonus is over the sea
My bonus is over the ocean, oh bring back my bonus to me!"
We took yer tax money bitchez!
THEY are not that smart after all. do you have any idea how long ot takes to create a generally quiet, generally non-revolutionary population? It takes years and years - and lots and lots of Chinese plastic toys and what-not .
Once you lose that - thebanksters do not have enough biologcakl years to "enjoy" the world. No siree bob. It will be nuttin but misery - kida like France. good luck to all ya bankster /shwanksters - ya'll done screwed the pooch - 9 as the Brits y).