Goldman Sachs has taken nearly $500 million (364 million) out of this years staff compensation and bonus pool as a swing in trading revenues pushed the US bank to a $2.1 billion net loss in the fourth quarter, its first three-month loss since 1994.
Goldman Sachs, whose chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein yesterday admitted the quarterly performance obviously didnt meet our expectations, revealed in its fourth-quarter figures that compensation and benefits expenses for the period were negative, at -$490 million.
The bank accrues money to the compensation and benefits pool, from which staff bonuses are paid each year, on a quarterly basis. In the same period last year, Goldman had booked $3.3 billion in compensation and benefit expenses.
It accrued money for the first three quarters of the year, and in the fourth quarter the board took back some of the money that had been in the compensation pool as of the end of the third quarter, says a source close to the bank.
The full story is available atThe Wealth Bulletins web-site.
D.C.