Wall Street Tempers Bonus Expectations in Year of the Pandemic
- BofA’s plans for flat bonus pool has disappointed some staff
- JPMorgan, Goldman payouts most generous but will vary widely
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The Wall Street traders who generated windfalls at banks this year may reap more modest rewards than they initially hoped for.
The biggest U.S. lenders are tempering expectations for employee payouts after the global pandemic spurred an avalanche of trading activity and sent revenues soaring. At Bank of America Corp., plans to keep the bonus pool for sales and trading at last year’s level disappointed some staff. Citigroup Inc. will leave the overall pot unchanged for equities, while boosting it for bond traders by at least 10%. More-generous increases approaching 20% are under discussion at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., but even within those firms, bonuses will probably vary widely.