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Comp Down, But Goldman Sachs Still on Top

Published: Nov 04, 2010

 Finance       

Okay, okay, Wall Street pay just isn't what it used to be like back in '06 and '07 when Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns were still in business, Dick Fuld was still sneering, Jimmy Cayne was still burning down in bathrooms in between bridge matches, and big investment banks worldwide were handing out multi-million-dollar bonus checks each holiday season like Secret Santa chotchikies. Are we suposed to feel bad that the average Goldman Sachs employee might make less than $400,000 this year? Or that the typical Morgan Stanley VP might only receive a bonus of $300,000 and not half a million?

In any case, Bloomberg, in reporting on the shrinking overall size of the Wall Street pie as compared to yesteryear (partly thanks to that pesky financlal regulatory reform act), has put together an interesting pay/employee graphic (an excerpt of which is below). Note, the figures only represent compensation from the first nine months of 2010 (and not a full year of revenue) per employee.

Also note that Bloomberg quotes a compensation consultant near the end of its article as saying, "Assuming we're headed back into an economic growth phase, we'll look back at this and it will be a total aberration. I do get the sense that once we have a rebound that these positions are going to return to their previous levels."

 

Comp Per Employee

Bank of America: $92,723

Citigroup: $72,264

Credis Suisse: CHF222,337

Deutsche Bank: EU116285

Goldman Sachs: $387,655

JPMorgan Chase: $91,014

Morgan Stanley: $190,682

UBS: CHF203,506

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