Big Paydays Return With Big Profits at Wall St. Banks - NYT

[WillyT]

Big Paydays Return With Big Profits at Wall St. Banks
JANUARY 21, 2011, 9:11 PM INVESTMENT BANKING
BY ERIC DASH AND SUSANNE CRAIG

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Talk about a raise.

Citigroup’s chief executive, Vikram S. Pandit, after nearly two years of earning a mere $1 in salary while he tried put the bank back on track, has been awarded a $1.75 million salary, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

The lifting of Mr. Pandit’s symbolic hair shirt came as Morgan Stanley disclosed much, though not all, of the compensation for its leader. James P. Gorman, in his first year as chief executive of Morgan Stanley, will earn less than the $15 million he took home in 2009 when he was the firm’s co-president, according to a person familiar with his compensation but not authorized to speak publicly about it.

Other Wall Street banks — including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America — are still to report what their leaders will be paid. JPMorgan Chase disclosed compensation for some of its senior mangers, but has not yet approved the pay package for its chief executive and chairman, Jamie Dimon. Mr. Dimon is expected to earn as much, if not more, than the $17.5 million he took home in 2009, which made him among the highest-paid Wall Street executives. No decision has been made. But JPMorgan had a banner 2010 — it was the most profitable year in the company’s history — and four of Mr. Dimon’s top lieutenants have already been awarded stock worth more than $10 million each.

Two years since emerging from the financial crisis, Wall Street profits — and big paychecks — appear to be back. But the public uproar that erupted over outsize bonuses that banks awarded, even after accepting a government bailouts, has not yet been tamed. Banks are still trying to balance the need to attract star executives and traders with regulators’ demands to ensure that their pay programs do not create excessive risk. Gone is some of the sensitivity to lawmakers and the broader public, who were angry at seeing such lavish paydays as they were losing their homes and jobs.

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More: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/big-paydays-return-with-big-profits-at-wall-st-banks/

:kick:

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Whoopee!" - RepubliCorp (R)

"Too bad and shit like that - smirk -- about you smelly proles that we are exploiting to make this Mega Payola. Bwaaa ha ha ha ha ha. Sneer. Smirk."

- RepubliCorp (R)

[bvar22]

2. There you go again.

We can't "begrudge them their wealth."
"I know them". They are just "savvy businessmen."
"Its the Free market."
"Look at all the baseball players."