Few on Wall Street were optimistic about this year's bonus season, but many were still disappointed by the stingy payouts.
According to Wall Street meme master Liquidity, the consensus among most junior bankers is that most of them are facing another “bad game” year.
Finance-focused social media accounts have been bombarded with junior bankers complaining that this year's bonuses are a “disaster” and “bad news overall”.
Nowhere has this been more evident than at Citi, where some 20,000 employees have been told they will be eliminated.
Few expected much generosity given the bank's situation, but lackluster compensation only exacerbated low morale.
“Citi's bonus was completely disrespectful,” one employee complained to Liquidity.
Another banker said Citi's payments were “terrible across the board”, while another criticized them as “absolutely awful”.
For others, the layoff puts things in perspective and says, “My bonus was significantly reduced, but I still got it.''
At Goldman Sachs, one employee said of the rank-and-file employees, “I would say that no one was truly happy.''
Another person said compensation was being distributed “unequally,” with partner companies once again receiving higher pay while lower-ranking employees were laid off.
At JPMorgan, America's largest bank, compensation and morale were relatively stable.
One employee went so far as to call his bonus “amazing.”
It's too early to know the overall trends in how banks paid their employees year-over-year (Bank of America has not yet disclosed total compensation to employees), but the slowdown in trading As a result, most banks' pools were shrinking.
Liquidity said the bonus season was “anticipated.” Part of that is due to widespread reports that this year will be worse than last.
Compensation consultancy Johnson Associates' annual report late last year predicted that bankers' bonuses could fall by 15% to 25% this season.
“Most Wall Street professionals will have to wait another year for their year-end bonuses to recover,” said Alan Johnson, managing director of the firm. “For most people… it’s going to be another disappointing year.”
The problem, of course, is that most bankers think they're the exception to the rule, and that they'll be outliers with big paychecks.
At the same time, many junior bankers received record bonuses in fiscal 2021, raising expectations.
These payments were supported by record revenues and a willingness to pay top prices amid a labor shortage that led to a war for talent.
Compensation consultancy Johnson Associates' annual report late last year predicted that bankers' bonuses could fall by 15% to 25% this season.
“Most Wall Street professionals will have to wait another year for their year-end bonuses to recover,” said Alan Johnson, managing director of the firm. “For most people… it’s going to be another disappointing year.”
The problem, of course, is that most bankers believe they are the exception to the rule and will be highly paid outliers. At the same time, many junior bankers received record bonuses in fiscal 2021, raising expectations.
These payments were supported by record revenues and a willingness to pay top prices amid a labor shortage that led to a war for talent.
In fact, management for 2022 was portraying the bonus drought as a one-time thing, the people said.
Unfortunately that doesn't seem to work.
Management was confident 2023 would be better because “the bar to give people a small percentage increase was very low,” the people said.
