Europe’s top investment banks set to cut bonuses on deal slump

DEUTSCHE Bank, UBS Group and Societe Generale are planning to reduce the overall amount of variable compensation they will pay out for 2023 after a tough year for Europe’s investment banks.

Staff in some units that performed well may still receive higher bonuses, people familiar with the matter said, without saying how big the cuts will be. But the overall pot will drop, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information noting that the decision process is ongoing.

Representatives for the lenders declined to comment.

Variable pay “will reflect performance in 2023,” Deutsche Bank chief financial officer James von Moltke said on Tuesday (Jan 16). “And as you have seen in a number of different areas of the investment banking business in particular in 2023, it has been a difficult market.”

Revenue at Deutsche Bank’s investment bank declined 12 per cent during the first nine months of last year. At Societe Generale, the fall was 2.5 per cent and for UBS it was 7.3 per cent.

Payouts to the Swiss lender’s wealth managers in Europe and Asia are also expected to drop, other people familiar with the matter said.

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It echoes the US, where merger advisers could see their payouts for 2023 slide as much as a quarter, according to a November report from compensation consultant Johnson Associates Trader bonuses were also reportedly expected to disappoint.

Things may look up this year with Wall Street executives increasingly predicting a pickup in dealmaking.

“You’ll see a lot more M&A activity and a lot more private equity activity,” Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein said on Thursday.

Morgan Stanley chief executive officer Ted Pick said a steady, predicatable drop “is good for investment banking because you have these financial-sponsor portfolios that have been locked up that need to be liberated.” BLOOMBERG