Goldman Sachs Employees Share 8 Billion Sterling in Bonuses, Down from Last year

Goldman Sachs‘ total pay packet including bonuses was 21 per cent lower than in 2010, with staff earning an average of £239,000 each. However, the American investment bank, which employs 33,300 people, 5,300 in the UK, saw its profits fall by 47 per cent to £2.8bn in 2011.

David Hillman, spokesperson for the Robin Hood Tax campaign, said: “When even in a bad year each Goldman employee pockets an average of $367,000 – nearly ten times the average UK salary – it’s proof that banks live in a parallel universe to the rest of us.

“Governments should bring banks back down to earth and ensure this money is used to help not those who caused the financial crisis, but those feeling its effects.”

The £8bn awarded to Goldman Sachs staff is substantially lower than the £18.9bn that employees at American bank, JP Morgan Chase, will share.

British banks

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is 82 per cent owned by the taxpayer after being bailed out in 2008, paid out £1bn in bonuses in 2010. The expectation is that the 2011 bonus pot will be half this – £500m. But chief executive Stephen Hester is in line for as much as £1.2m million.

Barclays, which did not need to be bailed out during the credit crunch, is believed to have made bonus payments of £2bn in 2010. This figure is also likely to fall.

The Sunday Times has reported that chief executive Bob Diamond, once dubbed the unacceptable face of banking by former business secretary Lord Mandelson, could receive a £10m bonus on top of his £1.3m salary.

At Lloyds Banking Group, in which the government holds a 41 per cent stake, chief executiveAntonio Horta-Osorio has said he will forgo his £2.4m bonus after taking a two-month leave of absence from work. His basic salary is £1.1m.