Goldman Sachs tops UK banker pay with $4.7m awarded for 2013

The US investment bank’s data showed that it paid staff in senior or risk-taking positions $193.6m in 2013 and gave them 2.1 million restricted stock units (RSUs), worth $377m based on the bank’s share price at the end of that year. The RSUs are due to be paid out over three years, but they may not be paid in full and can be clawed back at a later date. The remuneration figures mean that Goldman was easily the highest paying of 13 leading US, British, Swiss and Japanese banks in 2013. Data compiled from the 13 banks showed 2,600 employees at British banks or working in London were paid more than £3.4bn in 2013, or an average of £1.3m each. That is almost 50 times average annual pay in Britain. The details are the most comprehensive released on bankers’ pay in Britain. The 2013 pay disclosures cover British banks globally and overseas banks’ British-based staff. EU banks outside Britain do not need to disclose the details.

Most banks released the details earlier this year, but Goldman, Citigroup and Credit Suisse all reported in the past week, just before the year-end deadline.

The data showed that Goldman and Bank of America face the most work to restructure pay to meet new EU rules that came into effect at the start of 2014, and cap bonuses at 200 per cent of fixed pay. Both banks paid senior staff more than five times more in variable pay than fixed pay in 2013.