Mega wealthy bank Goldman Sachs have revealed an £8.3billion pay and perks bonanza that means staff will pocket an average of £245,000 each
Angry politicians promised that the fatcat bankers who brought the world’s economy to its knees would pay the price for their reckless blunders.
But there was more fury yesterday as investment bank Goldman Sachs revealed that its staff will have earned £8.3billion in wages and perks.
It averages out as a massive £245,000 for each worker in the last 12 months.
But thousands of the top traders and deal makers, many of them based in Britain, pocketed much bigger amounts.
Some payouts run into seven figures at the company which was also slated for the large profits it turned over in the botched sell-off of the Royal Mail.
Reports claim Karen Cook – Goldman Sachs’s boss in Europe – could bag a bonus of up to £10million when figures are revealed in the next few days.
Critics slammed the latest rewards for bankers when millions of people are still suffering the fallout from the financial crisis that began seven years ago.
Luke Hildyard, of the High Pay Centre, said: “Most people will be gobsmacked by the size of these payouts.
“The average will be skewed by the obscene sums of money going to top executives and the deal makers brokering large mergers and takeovers.
“The PAs and administrators who keep Goldman Sachs running won’t see anything like such large amounts.
“Ultimately, the money comes from creaming off a slice of the huge fees that Goldman charges to clients for services that many critics say are of questionable value to society.
“After a series of banking scandals we need action to ensure banks exist to serve the interests of the UK as a whole, not to make fatcat bankers even fatter.”
Goldman Sachs
£8.2bn
annual profits made by Goldman Sachs in 2014
Goldman Sachs
David Hillman, of the Robin Hood Tax campaign, said: “These bonuses are obscene. They are the latest evidence that City pay is completely divorced from any sort of fair reward for hard work or talent.
“More than six years after the financial sector crashed our economy, we are still paying the price while they are writing themselves cheques with phone numbers on them.
“It can’t be right that bankers are allowed to stuff their pockets while the rest of us are clearing up the mess they caused. Goldman Sachs are sticking two fingers up at public opinion and European rules to curb City excesses.
“Instead of challenging those rules in court, the Government should be making banks pay to repair our economy and protect public services. It’s not as if they can’t afford it.”
New York-based Goldman Sachs yesterday confirmed it had set aside £8.35billion – nearly 37% of its £22.8billion turnover – for salaries, bonuses and other perks in 2014. Staff will be told the scale of their annual bonus within days.
The annual profits at the Wall Street giant, which has 34,000 workers worldwide, rose 5% to £8.2billion. Goldman’s 5,500 staff in London are expected to be among those getting the most lucrative payouts. Ms Cook, nicknamed the queen of mergers and acquisitions, helped massive drugs company AstraZeneca fend off a hostile takeover by US rival Pfizer last year.
Other investment banks are also set to reveal bumper bonus payouts for top staff, despite attempts by regulators to clampdown on soaring pay.
Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chairman and chief executive, said: “We are pleased with our performance during a year characterised by mixed global economic and financial conditions.
“Looking ahead, we see evidence of a continued pick-up in momentum for the global economy that will improve the opportunity set for 2015.”
Goldman Sachs has attracted widespread criticism in recent years.
In 2009, it was described as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money”. It was also among the firms that convinced ministers to sell the Royal Mail at the end of 2013 at a knockdown price – losing the taxpayer more than £1billion when its shares soared.
It later emerged that another arm of Goldman Sachs made up to £12million through buying and selling the shares.
Data for 2013 payouts showed the bank’s most senior executives in London received an average of £3million.
