Goldman and JPM pump IBD bonus pool by 50% and 40% respectively

(Bloomberg) -- The two Wall Street investment-banking titans dominating this year’s dealmaking frenzy are opening up their wallets to try to keep their bankers happy -- and ratcheting up pressure on rivals to follow suit. 

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. may boost its bonus pool for investment banking by about 50%, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. may reach for a 40% increase, according to people with knowledge of their initial deliberations. The business, which covers merger-and-acquisition advisory as well as underwriting groups, is poised for the biggest windfalls after recent meetings to set pay for the year, the people said, asking not to be named discussing internal talks.

Across Wall Street, bosses are under mounting pressure to be more generous after tempering raises at the end of 2020 amid concerns that a surge in business set off by the pandemic might not last. Now, with signs pointing to yet another robust year ahead, senior executives are facing workers who, in many cases, feel that they’re owed and ready to jump to competitors if their employers skimp.

“You are paying for retention and not just paying for performance,” said Eric Dobkin, the veteran banker who spent almost half a century at Goldman Sachs before retiring in 2016. “This year, the firms may well have to overpay to keep the people they most want.”

Dobkin helped shape the modern IPO market and espoused the value of a firm’s brand in winning deals over the singular skill of individuals, a view embraced by a number of current Wall Street leaders. One former underling recalls Dobkin’s colorful repartees to bankers that included stingers like: “My dog in a Goldman Sachs T-shirt would win that business.”

At Goldman, the banking group led by Dan Dees and Jim Esposito posted a 63% jump in revenue in 2021’s first nine months from the same period last year. That helped push the company’s total revenue and profit beyond any level it’s ever achieved in a full year.

At JPMorgan’s investment bank, the jump in fees was 42% for the first nine months. In the fourth quarter, investment-banking fees will probably surge 35% from a year earlier, JPMorgan’s Daniel Pinto said at a conference last week. That would make the period one of the best ever for the firm’s bankers, and still the pipeline “looks quite strong into next year across M&A, debt and equity,” Pinto said. Executives have been discussing increasing the bonus pool by 30% or even 40%, one of the people said.

Representatives for the two banks declined to comment.

Both firms have surged ahead of third-place Morgan Stanley in pocketing fees from clients this year. Goldman racked up more than $11 billion and JPMorgan almost $10 billion by the end of September, when Morgan Stanley stood shy of $8 billion.

The frenzy for those mandates has set off a surge in poaching among investment banks and driven up employee turnover, as firms picked off each other’s talent with promises of better paychecks, more prominent titles or at least more flexible lifestyles. By October, banks including JPMorgan and Bank of America Corp. were warning shareholders that compensation costs may rise in the months ahead.

At Goldman Sachs, this year marks something of a reversal from 2009, when the firm last posted record revenue. That year, as investment bankers struggled to find mandates, some members of the fixed-income group reaped double or triple their previous paydays as they capitalized on a market rebound from 2008. 

This year, fixed-income traders, seen as one of the last remaining bastions of risk-taking at U.S. banks, will probably see bonuses stagnate as their business slumps from last year’s lucrative trading environment.

Source: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/goldman-jpmorgan-plan…

Should we expect the rest of high finance to follow suit ?

 
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I have a reason for why bonuses won't be standardized and then I play devil's advocate. Curious to hear other's thoughts:

1) Bonus, unlike base, is a derivative of how well the bank performs for that year. Sure, when banks have scorching hot deal flow and getting a ton of fees, analysts should be reaping that benefit as well with rewarding bonuses. However, to institute some street-wide concept of raised bonuses is hard because each bank has its benchmark of performance its trying to meet. Everything seems all fine and good since GS, JPM, and MS have had record fees, but what about a bank like GHL that saw a -10% drop in fees in the previous quarter? 

2) Analysts don't really have an actual role in revenue generation. Working on models/slides/call notes has literally zero impact on whether the deal gets past the finish line. As a result, you can view bonuses as a lock in payment like the increase in base because the bonus is not compensating for bank performance, but rather for the shit that analysts take and the shitty nature of the job. 

 

I think this makes a lot of sense. Also, from what I understand about GS bonuses have been below street for a while, especially at the Associate level. I think if your bank has been paying above street they're not necessarily going to spring for +50% this year. Still wishing everyone the best and regardless of any of these nuances bonuses should end up being high across the board.

 

Random question: Why doesn’t the flow/franchise concept penalize junior bankers bonuses the same way it impacts S&T bonuses? It’s hard to see how junior bankers at GS/MS have any ownership/responsibility for record breaking revenue - but still get comp’d for it. Surely at some point this area of the bank will be comp’d like S&T, no?

 

Understandable but still hurts to see as a S&T analyst where you can have real responsibility/ownership of 7 figure revenue generation..

 

Other banks will follow suit, and just like with base increases, there will be some stragglers. Banks have been in a war for talent over the past year and that will only heat up come spring/summer. Banks who dole out large bonuses will attract more talent and make recruiting/growth more functionable in a drought of analysts. Expect another record bonus year.

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