“There’s a lot of pessimism out there,” said Whitney Group Chief Executive Officer Gary Goldstein. “Looking at the world today and the impact the crunch is likely to have, it looks like bonus pools will decline.”
Bonuses, financial industry’s annual rite of compensation typically calculated as a multiple of salary, probably will decline as much as 5 per cent from 2006, according to Options Group, firm that tracks pay and hiring trends. Hardest hit will be employees who create and sell securities backed by mortgages or pools of debt, Options Group said. One out of every three people in those roles may lose their jobs unless business picks up, it added.