My heart really goes out to the poor chaps. They've done so well and helped the world until it hurt. How dare anyone asks for accountability! Shameful! Disgraceful! Can't they all mind their own business and let banksters work in peace? Who do they think they are? Shareholders that aren't joined at the hip with management? Sure the G20 punks own them and have kept them afloat with a lifestyle above the rest including juicy bonuses but besides that, who do they think they are? Outrageous!
Bankers are furious about the possible collapse of a system that inflated their basic pay: thousands of City jobs pay between £80,000 and £110,000 a year, with another £30,000 to £50,000 from bonuses, whilst senior management enjoyed multi-million pound bonuses.Right, so bankers are paid just like any other person on the street. That's a good one. So now they're trying their hand at comedy. If they wondered why they are hated so much, they can stop the search.
"Salaries in the banking and corporate finance world are not outrageous. The big reward is in the bonus," said Larry Schechter, a director at Schechter & Co, a boutique investment bank in Mayfair. "I am not a proponent of arbitrary compensation restrictions. I believe that bonuses - the rewards - should be commensurate with the level of success. You cannot have the whip without the carrot, and vice versa."
The G20 wants to restrict compensation that rewards short term risk-taking. Investment bankers banks received bonuses for taking big bets in the markets that may have led to longer term losses.
Many bought complex derivative contracts that proved to be worthless and now count among the toxic assets sitting on banks' balance sheets. They lent millions to companies that cannot repay their loans and must lay off thousands of staff.
