Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- More than a third of Wall Street finance professionals surveyed expect their bonuses to increase for 2009, a year after the credit-market collapse that some regulators say was fueled by outsized pay packages, eFinancialCareers.com found.

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, the job-search Web site said in a statement.

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

“This finding may rile regulators who have concluded that compensation arrangements often created incentives for risk- taking with insufficient regard to longer-term risks,” the company said in the statement.

About 83 percent of those polled expect to receive some kind of bonus this year, according to eFinancialCareers, a unit of Dice Holdings Inc. The company conducted the survey from Sept. 15 to Sept. 29.

About 52 percent of financial-services workers said their firms have changed bonus policies, with 60 percent saying current payouts have no impact on their risk-taking decisions. About 28 percent said new policies constrained risk and 12 percent said they are “emboldened” to take additional risk.

Claw Back

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer 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.

In the first six months of the year, Goldman Sachs set aside a record $11.4 billion for total compensation, an average of $386,429 per employee.

Of those respondents to the poll who expect an increase, 33 percent said the expectation was fueled by last year’s “abnormally” low bonuses amid the credit crisis.

“Banks have reverted to what they do best, take risks and make money,” said Jason Kennedy, chief executive officer of London-based recruiting firm Kennedy Associates. “There’s a feel-good factor out there at this point. It’s not what it used to be, but it’s definitely better than 2008.”

Firm’s Performance

Of the quarter of respondents who anticipate a smaller bonus this year, 54 percent attribute it to their firm’s performance and 20 percent say it’s related to a change in pay structure.

Banks including Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and UBS AG increased salaries for some employees this year as they adjusted bonus policies.

About 63 percent of U.S. companies in a separate survey released today said they don’t plan to reverse or restore changes made to executive salaries in the next six months. Ninety-two percent aren’t planning to reduce bonus opportunities or eligibility requirements, according to the survey by consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc.

Three in 10 companies are raising performance goals relative to this year’s performance and 31 percent are changing metrics in their annual incentive plans, according to the Watson Wyatt poll.

“Companies have moved beyond the short-term frenetic activity that we saw at the beginning of the year,” Andrew Goldstein, North American co-leader of executive compensation consulting at Watson Wyatt, said in a statement. “Now, companies are looking at how they can best address more long- term concerns with structural changes to pay programs.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Josh Fineman in New York at Jfineman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 6, 2009 13:31 EDT