Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Bank of America (BAC) raised their bonus pool for bankers and traders by at least 10%, reflecting the rebound in dealmaking and trading in 2025, according to a media report on Friday.
As is usual for this time of year, executives have started communicating compensation decisions to middle managers recently, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The total increase in the bonus size, however, doesn’t provide the extent of outsized bonuses that the biggest dealmakers will get or the possibility of no bonuses for underperformers.
In 2025, the three banks’ investment banking revenue totaled $25.7B, up 12% from 2024, and their combined trading revenue of $87.7B increased 16% Y/Y, Bloomberg said.
It’s a similar story at some European banks. BNP Paribas SA (BNPQF) (BNPQY) is considering boosting bonuses for its global markets division by almost 10%, with traders getting some of the biggest increases at the bank after a record year for the unit, Bloomberg reported separately.
However, that’s not the only factor in determining the bonus pool. The companies want to keep expenses down, putting additional attention on staffing and compensation structures. At HSBC (HSBC), for example, some bankers are getting little, if any, bonuses as they adopt a harsher “eat-what-you-kill” approach, the report said.
JPMorgan (JPM) stock rose 3.8%, Goldman Sachs (GS) climbed 3.5%, and Bank of America increased 2.4% in Friday morning trading, amid a broader equities rebound following three straight days of declines for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.