WSJ: Wall Street employees may see record bonuses this year

Employees of major banks and brokerages on Wall Street could receive a total of USD 140 billion in bonuses, according to a study by the Wall Street Journal, based on statements by officials of the SEC and on revenue estimates for the remaining period of 2009.

According to WSJ, this year employees of the largest 23 investment banks, hedge funds, asset management firms and commodity traders in the US could earn 20% more than they did last year. In 2008, these companies paid USD 117 billion in compensations and bonuses, down from the record level of USD 130 billion in 2007.

Wall Street Journal studied, among others, "JPMorgan Chase & Co.", "Bank of America" Corp., "Citigroup" Inc., as well as investment banks "Goldman Sachs Group" Inc. and "Morgan Stanley".

The American daily says that compensations for Wall Street employees are about to return to and even beat their record levels recorded during the boom period, in spite of public criticism of management salaries, and attention from regulators.

Employees of major Wall Street firms will make on average USD 143,400 this year, USD 2,000 more than the peak registered in 2007, WSJ says. In the case of "Goldman Sachs" employees, they will earn an average of USD 743,000 in 2009, double over last year (USD 364,000) and 12% higher than 2007 (USD 622,000), according to WSJ estimates.

Massive losses caused by risky subprime investments destroyed some of the oldest companies on the American financial market and intensified the recession which caused millions of jobs to be lost, drawing attention from market regulators and public opinion.