Banks resume multi-million dollar bonuses

Bonuses paid to staff working in banks bailed out by government funds during the crisis provokes public outcry in the US

NEW YORK - Bonuses paid to Wall Street bankers have continued to be paid by banks that have suffered record losses during the financial crisis. Details of bonuses paid to staff working at Citi and Merrill Lynch, have outraged the public and government officials - New York's attorney general Andrew Cuomo in particular.

Citi, which made a loss of $27.7 billion last year, set aside $5.3 billion for staff bonuses, and Merrill Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of America in a rescue takeover, had a $3.6 billion bonus pool, shows the attorney general report.

Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, which have benefited from the crisis, paid out the highest number of million-dollar bonuses. Both banks received billions of dollars from the US Government's Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp) but this has since been repaid in full.

Cuomo said: "There is no clear rhyme or reason to the way banks compensate and reward their employees. Compensation for bank employees has become unmoored from the banks' financial performance."

He said pay had not been tied to performance in recent years, contrary to the banks' claims.