JPMorgan Chase staff 'set to share $29bn bonus pot'

JPMorgan Chase is preparing to pay its staff around $29 billion in bonuses for their performance last year, it has been reported.

Analysts have said that the world's biggest banks are on course to pay out a record-breaking $65 billion over the next two weeks, with JPMorgan Chase leading the field, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The 28 per cent increase in bonus payouts at JPMorgan Chase reflects the fact that the company has taken on an additional 50,000 members of staff over the past two years, following its acquisitions of Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns.

However, the average bonus payout earned by JPMorgan Chase employees is set to increase considerably, up to more than $130,000 each for 2009 in comparison with around $100,000 for 2008.

Andrew DeSouza of investment banking body Sifma said that the higher figures reflected the improved financial performance of JPMorgan Chase and other Wall Street banks over the last 12 months.

"While the numbers will appear big, the story behind those numbers reflects changes many companies have made," he stated.

"These include a kind of 'pay for performance' that more closely links compensation practices to the long-term success of the company."

But criticism from the public and politicians is already gathering before Wall Street banks officially announce their bonus payouts.

Earlier this week, Christiana Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN that people were likely to be nonplussed by any claims that this year's bonuses are deserved.

"This big bonus season ... is going to offend the American people. It offends me," she said.

"You would certainly think that the financial institutions that are now doing a little bit better would have some sense."

She said that while the financial sector was undoubtedly important to the American economy, it was "ridiculous" that large sums were to be paid out to those in banking jobs following the state bailouts received by many organisations.

By Asim Shah