Pandemic on Wall Street causes rising levels … of bonuses

Enforced takeovers during the crisis will mean a bumper year for the bankers who advise on billion-dollar deals

Just as most of us are feeling the effects of soaring inflation, which the Office for National Statistics said last week had reached a 10-year high of 5.1%, wealthy bankers and traders are looking forward to receiving extraordinarily large new year bonuses.

Banks on both sides of the Atlantic are finalising bonus pool deals that could be inflated by as much as 50% compared with last year, reaching their highest levels since 2009 and the mergers and acquisitions boom that followed the financial crisis.