Everything we know about the 2026 bonus round, by bank

How was your bonus for last year? If you're at a European bank, excepting UBS and Barclays, you may not know yet. Nor will you know if you are with the Japanese. If you're at a US bank and you were paid up by less than 10%, then bad luck.

Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.

The general verdict is that this year's bonus round has been good, but that it might have been better. "Expectations did not match reality as all bankers expected to be highly compensated at all levels and this was not the case," says Mike Karp, CEO and founder of search firm Options Group. In sales and trading, Karp says some people did "very well indeed." However, traders say this year's bonuses were even more heavily skewed towards performance than usual. 

Within sales and trading, macro traders had a particularly strong 2025, with most US banks citing strong growth in macro revenues in the fourth quarter. Macro bonus pools are thought to to be up 8-12% as a result. Credit bonuses are understood to be less strong, with pools up 5-10% or less.

Below is what we know on bonuses by bank. This has not been validated by the banks concerned, who typically do not comment on compensation. If you have anything to add, please add a comment, or venture into the Bubble where discussion is free.

Bank of America bonuses 

Bloomberg says BofA's bonus pool was up 10% this year. However, top ranked associates at Bank of America say they received bonuses equivalent to 75% of salaries and that this was disappointing as they were receiving 110% not so long ago. BofA associates also complain that they are receiving 30% of their bonuses in stock that vests over a four year period.

In December, Reuters reported that BofA intended to increase bonuses by 20% for its investment bankers. Asia-based bonuses are thought to have come closest to this approximation. BofA's markets bonuses are thought to have been up by less.  There has been some griping in areas like EMEA equities (and particularly in equity research), where insiders say they exceeded their 2025 budget in September but received bonus increases of only a few percentage points. There are suggestions that the EMEA markets business helped subsidize the US this year.

Barclays bonuses 

Today is bonus day at Barclays. As we reported earlier, 1,465 senior staff categorised as material risk takers at the British bank received a 16% increase in their average bonus to £900k ($1.2m). Barclays' remaining 91,500 staff may not have done badly either: Bloomberg notes that bonuses across the bank are up 15% and that many junior staff received £500 share awards.

All this sounds positive, but some people at Barclays seem to be whinging all the same. Maybe the pool was skewed towards the 718 people paid over €1m, and the 89 of them paid over €4m.

BNP Paribas bonuses 

BNP Paribas has not announced its bonuses yet. The French bank doesn't break out compensation spending in its corporate and investment bank, but operating expenses in the division rose only 3% last year and fell in the final quarter when bonuses are typically calibrated. 

While none of this bodes well, Bloomberg reported last week that BNP Paribas is considering increases bonuses in its markets division by 10%. 

Last year, the average bonus for material risk takers at the French bank's CIB was €678k. This year, senior BNP traders could cautiously budget for €750k. M&A bankers will seemingly get less.

Citi bonuses 

Citi bonuses have been "mixed," say insiders. This is the nature of the beast, but at Citi some factors have contributed to this.

At the top end in London, Citi invited its material risk takers (MDs and other senior people) to sign new contracts at the end of last year. These contracts locked in small salaries and larger bonuses, adding a greater element of variability to pay. Financial News reported that some London bankers then received bonus hikes of 10-15% and that some got 20%.

Not everyone was treated this generously though. In the markets business, some Citi traders have complained of being zeroed and having bonuses halved. Citi is cutting jobs and there are suggestions that swathes of people were intentionally disappointed in the hope that they might leave of their own accords.

Deutsche Bank bonuses 

Deutsche Bank doesn't announce bonuses until March, by which time it will have been able to take good stock of how much everyone else is paying. Last year, it paid material risk takers average bonuses of $1.1m and the bonus pool for investment bankers and traders rose by 32%. 

Goldman Sachs bonuses

People at Goldman are understood to be variably happy. Goldman bankers are understood to be happiest of all, markets professionals quite happy, and middle and back office staff ambivalent-to-sad.  

One senior technologist at Goldman told us engineering and operations bonuses were "hit badly" in a possible attempt to encourage people to leave. Overall, Bloomberg says the pool at Goldman was 10% higher.

HSBC bonuses 

HSBC won't announce bonuses until later this month, but things do not sound promising. Bloomberg reported last week that the bank is planning to allocate zeroes and to an operate an eat what you kill model. There is apprehension internally about what this will entail.

JPMorgan bonuses 

JPMorgan bonuses are understood to have been "good". Bloomberg says JPMorgan's pool was also 10% up.

Morgan Stanley bonuses 

Morgan Stanley is understood to have paid its bankers well, especially in Asia, but there have been simultaneous complaints of poor pay in the middle and back office, where some staff are claiming that they've been shifted onto a salary heavy structure without any appreciable increase in salary.

UBS bonuses 

UBS has yet to publish details of the bonuses it paid "key risk takers" for last year, but early indications are that people were mostly happy. Everyone we have spoken to said bonuses were "fine," with double digit increases in the markets pool being mooted. Bloomberg reported that some units saw 20% increases in the bonus pool and that UBS's Asian banking bonuses were up 18%.

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Signal: sarahbutcher.22  Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. 

Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: comments are moderated intermittently by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You must take sole responsibility for comments you post on this site. We will take reasonable steps to weed out anything that we consider to be offensive or inappropriate.