Despite a roaring year for the stock market Wall Street bonuses dipped 2 percent last year compared to 2022.
The average Wall Street bonus was still a whopping $176,500, a collective $33.8 billion, falling from $180,000 the previous year.
The change came as the industry added employees and took a ‘more cautious approach’ to compensation, New York state’s comptroller’s office said as it released the figures on Tuesday.
Expectations were low despite Wall Street profits being up 1.8 percent last year and the S&P gaining 24 percent throughout the year.
Higher interest rates, slower deal making activity and unstable geopolitics has led to caution about splashing out on large bonuses.
Bonuses have yet to catch up to their all-time high of 2021 when bankers were raking in an average $240,400.
Bonuses were down even further for investment bankers in particular last year, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Wall Street provides 27 percent of New York state’s tax collections and 7 percent of tax revenue for the city, according to the comptroller.
‘While these bonuses affect income tax revenues for the state and city, both budgeted for larger declines so the impact on projected revenues should be limited,’ Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.
‘The securities industry’s continued strength should not overshadow the broader economic picture in New York, where we need all sectors to enjoy full recovery from the pandemic’ he added.
Invest banking bonuses were down an average of 25 percent, according to Wall Street compensation consultant Johnson Associates.
‘It’s disappointing,’ Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, told the Journal.
‘Everyone was hoping for a business rebound.’
The average Wall Street bonus was still a whopping $176,500, falling from $180,000 the previous year
‘Most Wall Street professionals will have to wait another year for a rebound in year-end bonuses’ Johnson told the New York Post.
Some bankers were less than impressed by the payouts, with many staff venting their frustration to Litquidity, a social media page for Securities industry workers.
‘Citi bonuses were straight-up disrespectful,’ one employee complained to the finance-focused account.
Another said Citi payouts were ‘savage across the board,’ with a colleague calling them ‘absolute s–t.’
Citibank announced earlier this year that it would be cutting 20,000 jobs over the next two years.
‘Can’t say anyone was really happy’ a Goldman Sachs employee said of last year’s bonuses.