Goldman Sachs is set to pay out sizeable compensation and benefits this year despite the recession after it announced strong financial results.
The US bank reported a net profit of $3.44bn (£2.1bn) for April to June, and has set aside $6.65bn for pay and bonuses in this quarter. This is on top of the $11.3bn for the first half of the year, with one quarter still to come.
Goldman Sachs said that reports suggesting that the total compensation and benefits pot for the year will be around $20bn were merely guess work, pointing out that this pot is not all for bonuses and also includes salaries, healthcare benefits and vested pay. It also said that any bonuses are not finalised until the end of the year, and the figure paid out reflects performance over 12 months.
Based on that figure, the average payout for the bank's 29,000 global staff would stand at around $690,000 (£420,000) per employee. Last year's average was $363,000 per employee.