Most Wall Street workers to get lower 2020 bonuses: study
12 November, 2020
Year-end bonuses for some Wall Street workers are anticipated to decline this year compared with 2019 because of the impact of the COVID-19 impact on the U.S. economy, compensation firm Johnson Associates Inc said on Thursday.
Year-end bonuses for some Wall Street workers are anticipated to decline this season compared with 2019 as a result of impact of the COVID-19 impact on the U.S. economy, compensation firm Johnson Associates Inc said on Thursday.
Overall, incentives towards the end of this year, such as cash bonuses and equity awards, will generally decline, marking the second consecutive year of mostly smaller awards, the study shows.
Retail and commercial bankers will be the hardest hit, with their year-end incentive payments likely to decline at least 25per cent to 30per cent weighed against this past year, while investment banking advisors can get to see their payments decline by as much as 15per cent to 20per cent.
Payments to asset management, hedge funds and private equity staff can expect payouts to be down 5per cent to 10per cent from the entire year before.
"The pandemic is wreaking havoc on many elements of the U.S. economy this season, and the financial services industry is no exception," said Alan Johnson, managing director of the firm that did the report.
However, while retail and commercial bankers and personnel at asset managements firms have seen declines, fixed income and equities traders have benefited from volatile markets driving trading activity.
Workers in fixed-income sales & trading are expected to see bonuses increase by at least 40per cent to 45per cent while equities sales and trading staff can expect payouts to improve by 20per cent to 25per cent.
"Fixed-income pros will be rewarded handsomely as uncertainty and high volatility contributed to record trading," said Johnson.
Johnson anticipates the pandemic will continue steadily to hurt the financial services sector, overall, in 2021, but perhaps to a smaller degree than in 2020. Staff cuts are anticipated in the first half of the entire year, he said. Early projections suggest modest earnings increases and flat-to-slightly increased bonuses.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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