Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second- largest U.S. bank, set aside $8.79 billion for compensation and benefits for its investment-bank employees in the first nine months of 2009, enough to pay $353,834 to each.

The compensation reserve totaled 38 percent of revenue in the first three quarters, compared with 52 percent in the same period of 2008, New York-based JPMorgan said today on its Web site. The amount per employee is less than the $386,429 that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. set aside for just the first half.

Paying less “is a risky strategy because we have seen some of the top bankers jump ship to some of the smaller firms out there,” William Fitzpatrick, an analyst at Optique Capital Management, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “But at this point are bankers really going to run away from an organization like JPMorgan?”

The Group of 20 leaders agreed last month to adopt pay guidelines for banks and other firms that rein in risks by aligning bonuses and other pay to long-term performance. U.S. lawmakers are also studying Wall Street pay after spending almost $400 billion bailing out finance companies. JPMorgan repaid $25 billion of government money in June.

“We always look at long-term, sustained performance,” Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said on a conference call with analysts today. “We will continue what we are doing. Industries have to pay for performance over time and we are committed to treating each individual properly.”

Senior Managers

Dimon, who received $1 million in salary and didn’t take a cash or stock bonus last year, said JPMorgan requires senior managers to hold a majority of their stock while employed at the bank. The lender doesn’t offer so-called change-of-control pay, where executives receive special payouts after management changes, Dimon said.

Investment-banking revenue climbed 84 percent to $23.2 billion for the first three quarters, the company said in announcing a sevenfold increase in third-quarter profit today.

JPMorgan employed 24,828 people in the investment bank as of Sept. 30. The bank has 220,861 workers across its divisions. At the same point last year, the investment bank set aside $6.54 billion, or enough to pay $210,854 to each of the 30,993 workers at the time.

“I really believe they are going to be conservative, in line with viewpoints from shareholders, regulators and the world,” said Jeanne Branthover, managing director at Boyden Global Executive Search Ltd. in New York.

Goldman Sachs

New York-based Goldman Sachs, which is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings tomorrow, allocated 49 percent of first- half revenue, or $11.4 billion, to pay employees. Morgan Stanley set aside 71 percent of first-half revenue, or $5.91 billion.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein last month said multiyear contracts for bankers should be banned, and the “claw back” of pay should be permitted to discourage excessive risk-taking, should the firm’s performance deteriorate in later years.

Banks including Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and UBS AG increased salaries for some employees this year as they adjusted bonus policies. JPMorgan said in July that investment bankers who received half or more of their total compensation in year- end bonuses would see more of their pay in salary beginning next year.

More than a third of Wall Street finance professionals expect their bonuses to increase for 2009, according to a survey by eFinancialCareers.com. About 36 percent of the 1,074 people who responded to the e-mailed poll said they are anticipating a bigger annual payout from their companies and 11 percent said it will jump by at least half.

To contact the reporters on this story: Christine Harper in New York at charper@bloomberg.net; Elizabeth Hester in New York at ehester@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 14, 2009 12:26 EDT