The U.S's five biggest banks are on track to pay out $127 billion U.s. in total compensation, including at least $23 billion U.S. in bonuses, this year. That's up from the $114 billion U.S. the banks shelled out to their employees in 2009. It translates to $149,472 per full-time employee for 2013, and is roughly triple the pay of the average American.
In an article in Tuesday's New York Times, Henry Paulson said he was disappointed by the size of the bonuses banks paid in the wake of the financial crisis and subsequent bailout. The former Treasury Secretary, who enjoyed some rich Wall Street paydays as the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, says he was dismayed about the timing of the large 2009 bonuses. He says it turned the public, which was always on the fence about the Wall Street bailout, sharply against the TARP program, which the Times calls Paulson's "crowning achievement."
Paulson has, at other times, more generally criticized Wall Street pay. In his book, On the Brink, Paulson said he would regularly "go off" in partner meetings at Goldman about compensation. He told CNBC in 2010 that he used to tell fellow Goldmanites, "I hope you all understand . . . . people don't like you," when conversations about bonuses would come up. But Paulson took home nearly $102 million U.S. in his last three-and-a-half years as the CEO of Goldman, including a $18.7-million U.S. cash bonus for the first half of 2006 alone, so, you know, way to really set an example, Hank.
The Times says banks paid $140 billion U.S. in bonuses in 2009. But the paper almost certainly means total compensation, including salary and benefits (the $114 billion U.S. previously cited is for the top five banks only). It also says that bonuses peaked in 2009, which, too, appears to be wrong. According to this table from the New York comptroller's office, Wall Street bonuses totaled $22.5 billion U.S. in 2009. That was down, again according to the NY comptroller, from 2006, when banks paid $34 billion U.S. Last year, Wall Street firms paid out $20 billion U.S. in year-end payouts.
Alan Johnson, a top Wall Street compensation consultant, estimates that bonuses at Wall Street firms could be up as much as 15% this year, based on an increase in mergers and stock and bond underwriting. By Johnson's estimates year-end payouts could reach $23 billion U.S., which would be the highest since the financial crisis, but is still 34% below Wall Street's 2006 pay peak.
All that makes Paulson's burning regret about the level of Wall Street compensation in 2009 kind of bizarre. Business was up in 2009, albeit with the help of bailouts and a disastrous 2008, and bonuses were blah. And bonuses were really down in 2008, to $17.6 billion U.S., which is really the year of the bailout, and when anger over Wall Street pay boiled over, sparked by the revelation that even busted insurer AIG was paying hefty bonuses.
Some have argued that instead of being focused on the level of Wall Street pay, what we should really be focused on is whether banker compensation reflects performance, and that it's not a game rigged to produce huge payouts even when banks, shareholders, and ultimately tax payers, lose. That's what really caused the outrage in 2008. Wall Streeters got billions in bonuses even as their firms were headed for the dumps.
But now the banks are making hefty profits again. According to Dealogic, Wall Street fees from underwriting are up 24% this year from the same period in 2009. Yet, bonuses are only expected to be up 2% from 2009.
And while bonuses are up, slightly, other things have changed. Johnson says restricted stock, as opposed to immediate cash payouts, now makes up as much as 80% of the year-end pay of top Wall Street executives, about double what it was five years ago. One would think that's enough of a change to help Paulson sleep at night.
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