The public outrage by bankers was absent during the fall before being bailed out but was noticeable once the UK slapped a 50% tax on the highest bonuses. You could have sworn the end was near, they screamed so much. In reality, the banks handed out very substantial bonuses again and hardly seemed deterred by the tax. These are the best of times for the bankers.
Alistair Darling's 50 per cent "super tax" on bankers' bonuses has done almost nothing to curb the City's culture of excess, with almost half its bankers receiving significant increases, a survey to be published today reveals.
The poll of 694 British bankers and finance professionals carried out by eFinancialCareers found that 57 per cent saw an increase in their bonuses this year compared with last year, with many payments more than doubling.
Across the board, the rise in bonus payments was calculated at an average 40 per cent. Basic pay has also increased sharply, with nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of respondents saying they had been handed rises, with the average increase coming in at 26 per cent.
The findings threaten to re-ignite the row over City excess at a time when workers in many fields face pay freezes or even cutbacks for the second year in a row. Some 90 per cent of the respondents were eligible for a bonus. Of them, just 3 per cent did not receive one.
