It is a tricky pay disclosure season for banks. The basic problem with 2020 numbers is exemplified by Deutsche Bank. Investment bank staff will get €465,000 on average and chief executive Christian Sewing will receive €7.4m. Sections of the German economy would have collapsed last year without the state support that triggered a lucrative surge in financings and securities trading.
The optics could be even worse for Credit Suisse, due to publish its annual report next Thursday. It put $10bn of client money into funds linked to Greensill Capital, the risky supply chain finance group that has just imploded. On paper, senior Credit Suisse bankers still stand to get big bonuses.
Credit Suisse investment bank profits rose 70 per cent last year to SFr1.7bn ($1.8bn). If the pay of “material risk takers” increased by the same amount, they would, on average, take home more than SFr2m each.