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Europe bankers see US$2.5 bil of bonuses vanish in stock rout

Bloomberg Published on Wed, Aug 31, 2016 / 11:34 AM GMT+8

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LONDON (Aug 31): Investment bankers at Europe’s biggest securities firms are watching their bonuses melt.

A rout in financial stocks this year has wiped more than US$2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) from the value of deferred shares that were paid as bonuses in the past few years at Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Awards for staff at Credit Suisse have plunged by more than 1.2 billion Swiss francs ($1.7 billion) on a 42% drop in shares this year, as Brexit added to pressure European bank stocks were already facing from costly restructuring efforts.

Bonuses have fallen across Wall Street’s largest firms as revenue shriveled in previously lucrative activities and a large part of year-end payouts for top performers was granted in restricted shares. The worst hit have been employees at European firms, whose sharp stock price declines reflect the region’s economic challenges and -- in some cases -- the banks’ struggles to restore profitable business models.