How will they ever make ends meet in this nasty, brutal climate? Since they're so valuable, maybe it's time they put that theory to the test and tried living without government handouts.
A senior banker on the managing director level can expect to receive as much as £300,000, or $479,000, in base salary this year, up from £150,000 in 2007, said Shaun Springer, founder and chief executive of Square Mile Services, which advises firms on pay. In addition, they could get a bonus of about £600,000 for this year, down from £850,000 in 2007.
Especially for senior bankers, most of the bonus will be paid in shares, many of them deferred. New rules by the Financial Services Authority, Britain’s financial regulator, state that at least 40 percent of bonuses shall be deferred for at least three years and that at least half of the bonus shall be paid in shares.
“I took home more in cash when I first went into banking,” said one banker who works as a managing director in London for a Wall Street. He declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of his company.
There is also the expectation that a smaller bonus pool will widen the pay gap as banks try to retain crucial staff members by paying them more. “It will be the 20:80 rule,” said the banker, meaning that 20 percent of staff will get a larger share of the bonuses, while the remaining 80 percent will get far less.
