Wall Street's lavish bonuses are getting slashed

Author: Editors Desk Source: CNN:::

August 4, 2022 at 14:16

A new report from consulting firm Johnson Associates forecasts that year-end bonus pay will decline across financial services, with some bankers seeing bonuses gutted by 45% or more from last year.

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London (CNN Business) - Last year was a busy, chaotic one on Wall Street. Mergers, acquisitions and new stock listings were going a mile a minute, underpinned by a generally jolly mood. The economy was bouncing back. Vaccines dimmed the risks posed by Covid. Money was essentially free to borrow. There was a war for talent among banks. Champagne for all!

All of that activity meant long, stressful hours for bankers. But that's part of the bargain on Wall Street: Work until you nearly collapse and wait for your lavish bonus check to hit your bank account.

See here: The average Wall Street bonus for 2021 hit a record high of $257,500, up 20% from the year before, according to estimates by New York State Comptroller. (Just to be clear: That's a bonus figure, not a base pay. So, yeah, we're not exactly calling for a GoFundMe for these guys.)

This year, though, it's a very different story.

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