Wall Street Traders to Take Home Smaller Slice in a Banner Year

  • Compensation ratios have dropped at some Wall Street firms
  • Employees ‘need to be paid when people perform,’ Solomon says
Pedestrians walk along Wall Street.Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

After propping up the profitability of banks during a tumultuous year, Wall Street traders will get a slice of the windfall they’ve brought in. It’ll just be a smaller slice.

In earnings reports this week, the biggest financial firms began to signal how they’ll navigate rewarding traders for producing banner results at a time when unemployment has soared and other bank divisions are struggling.