Topic: Bonuses

"Without knowing why or how, we seem to have hatched our own oligarchs, and we stand aghast and bewildered at this flock of monstrous cuckoos," author Ferdinand Mount writes.

Shareholders in Barclays have forced the British bank to accept tougher bonus conditions and promise higher dividends, highlighting how the balance of power between investors and managers is shifting at some of the biggest global banks, the FT reports.

Europe's bankers have hired the man responsible for leading oil giant BP's public relations campaign during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as head of the lobby group striving to restore their battered reputation in Europe.

Wall Street's bonuses were estimated on Monday to have fallen nearly 25 percent in 2011 by a New York City fiscal watchdog, almost twice what the state comptroller forecast last week.

British bank Barclays said it tapped the European Central Bank (ECB) for 8.2 billion euros ($10.9 billion) at its offer for ultra-cheap long-term funding this week.

Police and bailiffs cleared an anti-capitalist camp from outside St Paul's cathedral in London early on Tuesday, ending a four-month protest which resonated with Britons angered by huge bonuses awarded to bankers during an economic slowdown.

The Lloyds Banking Group bankers forced to pay back some of their bonus payments are unlikely to be the last bankers made to repay remuneration, as claw-backs become increasingly popular.

David Cameron has called for a truce in the battle over bank bonuses in an attempt to repair fractured relations with the City and draw a line under weeks of public acrimony. The FT reports.

Bonuses, which first caused widespread consternation in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, have come to the forefront of the debate in Europe again in recent months.

Stephen Hester has revealed that the dramatic restructuring of Royal Bank of Scotland has cost 38 billion pounds ($60.5 billion) in a rallying memo to staff days after the embattled chief executive waived a 1 million pounds bonus, the Financial Times reports.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a measure to scale back million dollar bonuses for the
executives of government-run housing finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

On Sunday, the public outrage at Stephen Hester’s bonus persuaded the Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive to turn down a pay award ($1.57 million) that would be considered miserly by other bank bosses in the UK and the US, the Financial Times reports.

Huge pay packages such as retention deals and bonuses for incoming, current, and even exiting CEOs have critics calling corporate boards "tone deaf," USA Today reports.

David Cameron’s pledge to curb executive pay and stop “rewards for failure” is set to face its biggest test, as Royal Bank of Scotland prepares to offer a bonus of more than £1 million ($1.54 million) to its chief executive, even though the state-controlled bank’s share price has almost halved in a year, the Financial Times reports.

Compensation consultants hired to guide Wall Street's payout pools, say that this year's bonus figures will likely be the worst for Wall Street employees since 2008,  the New York Times reports.