Goldman Sachs bankers set to scoop £240k each after bumper year

Goldman Sachs set aside almost £9.8billion in ‘compensation and benefits’ in 2020 for its 40,500 staff

Goldman Sachs bankers are set to scoop pay and perks of more than £240,000 each after a bumper year.

The US bank set aside almost £9.8billion in ‘compensation and benefits’ in 2020 for its 40,500 staff around the world – the biggest pay pot for a decade.

The average is £240,000, but some lowly bankers will get far less while high-flyers trouser millions. That is up slightly from last year’s £236,000. 

Goldman dwarfed Wall Street estimates with profits more than doubling in the fourth quarter, boosted by a blowout performance at its trading arm and fees from blockbuster stock market listings.

Overall, revenues rose 22 per cent to £32.7billion last year while profits were up 12 per cent to £6.9billion, despite a £2.2billion hit to its annual profits after a settlement with the US Department of Justice and other regulators over its role in Malaysia’s 1MDB corruption scandal.

It set aside £2.3billion to cover loans turning sour due to the pandemic.