How UK banks’ bonus rounds stacked up in 2016
Bad news if you're a UK-based banker: your bonus probably dropped this year.
As bank results season came to a close, it turned out three out of the four major UK lenders shrank the size of their bonus pools this year – Lloyds was the only exception.
RBS employees suffered the most, with their bonus pool shrinking eight per cent to £343m, from £373m the year before.
Meanwhile, HSBC workers' bonuses shrank 2.8 per cent, to £3.4bn, while Barclays' bonuses edged down one per cent, to £1.5bn.
But with runaway results showing a whopping £4.2bn pre-tax profit, Lloyds increased the size of its bonus pool by 11 per cent, to £392.9m.
Meanwhile, figures from Emolument showed Wall Street lenders are putting their UK rivals to shame, with bonuses for relatively junior staff rising as much as 16 per cent this year.
The average bonus awarded to UK-based analysts at the likes of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley rose to £16,250 this year, from £15,000 last year.
“The results in the bank sector this week are significant, not just for the sector, but as an indication that the UK economy is starting to normalise,” said Jane Sydenham, investment director at Rathbone Investment Management.
“While higher inflation and rising interest rates are a mixed blessing for consumers, they are generally good news for the banking sector… More than that, they bode well for the wider economy and we can all take some solace from this.”
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