Goldman Sachs bankers in line for £1.5 BILLION pay and bonus pot (and that's just for London staff). With Britain in the grip of a recession, the announcement last night will only add to public fury over City payouts. The company, which is awarding its workers £8.2billion globally, has 5,300 staff based in Britain.
The news comes despite disappointing annual results from the investment bank. Goldman is expected to reveal profits fell to £1.95billion last year, from £5.5billion in 2010. This would make it its second lowest annual profit in almost ten years, reflecting the impact Europe's debt crisis is having on the Wall Street bank. The company's president, Gary Cohn, said the large payouts were necessary for staff retention. The total pot this year is £1.8billion less than the £10billion awarded for their efforts the previous year.