Comments on: Big Producers Demand Big Share of Shrunken Bonus Pie

By: Jojo

Jojo — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:07:00 +0000

These guys are salespeople and 10% on revenue brought in is not an unusual amount to be compensated.

If Wall Street is like technology sales (which I have experience in), you start at some percentage which might be as low as 5% and then ramp up to anywhere from 10-18% depending on if you meet your number or exceed it.

One company I worked for had an interesting variant where you got paid on a rolling 3 month average, which was intended to smooth out the peaks and valleys. I suppose that Wall Street could do this on longer period of time, depending on the longevity of salespeople.

I only wish I knew the numbers that Wall Street salespeople are working with when I was younger. I mean, someone doing a $100 million in sales in a year? Whew. That's big numbers! I would have taken a job somewhere on Wall Street for sure.

By: baychev

baychev — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:45:00 +0000

there goes the saying: at IBs the traders are either bold or old. never both. if someone is good, he can do pretty well on his own. if he ‘contributes’ only by frontrunning or selling crap ideas to his clients, he’s doomed anywhere else.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:39:00 +0000

Mr. Dolfino says star foreign-exchange traders who expected to make $25 million this year after earning the firm $250 million may get less if it isn't clear the feat can be repeated without the use of borrowed money....

Every trader (including Jerome Kerviel) expects to make millions.

By: Lune

Lune — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:11:00 +0000

top executives would reportedly describe the investment banking side as "socialist" since it recognized that its successes were based on cooperation and compensated accordingly.

Are these the same rugged capitalists that are now asking for a government bailout?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:55:00 +0000

It is not even luck, most employees simply have specialized jobs which perform differently depending on market conditions.

As a whole marginal improvements can mean millions for these large companies, but for individual employees it is not even close to justifiable for the level of bonus they receive.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:48:00 +0000

Are these banks still houses of gambling?

Why pay employees for good luck? The academic evidence is pretty strong that if there are people that are able to outperform the market, the number of those people is exceedingly small and one cannot determine beforehand who those individuals may be.