One day, one of our political leaders - preferably a few in a few different countries - is going to develop a spine and bring this industry back to planet earth. Don't count on Congress and Obama looks less likely by the day to create any kind of confrontation. He may already be looking for a new middle ground with them so they can live as comfortably as possible. It's good to be the king.
BAB stands for Bonuses are Back, and its arrival in the lexicon of the Square Mile is evidence that bankers are once again looking forward to bumper payouts, just eight months after the sector faced meltdown and governments worldwide were required to prop them up.Let's face facts here. Big Finance completely owns London and Washington and there's not a damned thing either is willing to do to change this. Nothing at all. London and NY have been global leaders in finance for years so both are terrified to take any action that would push this group out the door, or at least make such threats. Again, their pay is so far ahead of every other industry and for what reason? They blew it on a global scale yet you would never know it these days.
It is universally accepted that the vast rewards available to bankers for taking huge risks were the root cause of the crisis, but nevertheless Goldman Sachs's 28,000 staff – 5,400 of them in London – are now looking forward to the biggest payouts in the bank's 140-year history. Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Barclays Capital, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are also anticipating bumper profits.
Even Royal Bank of Scotland, which is now 70% owned by the UK taxpayer and was supposed to restrict the way it pays bonuses, is back in bonanza mode. In March, a key executive was awarded millions of shares and options, already worth more than £8m. This week it emerged that the new chief executive, Stephen Hester, has a £15m pay package.
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