How the bonus season is now seen on Wall Street

Open the editor’s digest for free

FT editor Rula Khalaf picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The author is a former head of global equity capital markets at Bank of America and is now a managing director at Seda Experts.

In a TV show SeinfeldThe Costanza family He respects A secular end-of-the-year celebration called Festivas that features amazing traditions such as “airs of mourning” and “works of strength.”

For investment bankers, peers arrive between mid-January and mid-February, when they are told total compensation from the previous year.

When I started banking in the mid-nineties, “Comp Day” rivaled any holiday in drama and intensity. Doors closed, adults (mostly men) fought back tears, and champagne-fueled parties spilled out in nearby bars. The whole floor cracked with raw emotion.

Today’s comp day is traditionally opened with a visit to the local post office. The modern banker is summoned to the boss’s office by an email calendar invitation. The manager, with a spreadsheet and HR-filtered talking points, broke the news Singleness Ben Stein’s economics professor at Ferris Bueller Day Off.

The script follows a precise formula. First comes the total compensation figure, followed by how it compares percentage-wise to the previous year. The manager then divides the bonus (or “variable compensation” in formal terms) into its components: the immediate cash portion and the amount paid in restricted stock. The vesting schedule of share awards is explained in detail – which shares are available in which years. The manager also announces the starting salary for the following year.

The match ends with empty kindness – from the metaphorical statement of “recognizing your contribution” to the gentle reminder of “areas of development”.

The domesticity of this ritual can be attributed to a number of factors, not least the post-financial crisis regulatory reforms that turned bank bonus bonanzas into slowly trickling compensation. High base salary and entry “Role-Based Allowance”. In Europe (to go around EU bonus cap) means that the bonus is usually not as drying or breaking time as it used to be. High public scrutiny of bank bailouts has also forced regulatory decency.

Moreover, the elements of doubt and surprise are mostly removed. By the time January rolls around, performance reviews are revealing results, rumors of a comp annual turnover are swirling, and senior management is outpacing efforts to contain them. And team leaders manage expectations.

Of course, bankers lobby, plan and grovel before com day, diligently filling out online self-assessments and boosting their success. When large, cross-departmental teams handle deals, revenue recognition remains highly subjective, making it easier to claim credit for affected work.

But it is very beautiful things. During his tenure, a senior colleague famously laid out a 10-page PowerPoint deck, including a league table of only “his” deals, to show how much worse off the bank would be without him. As the story spread, a mixture of laughter, disbelief, and resentment provoked bile. I doubt many today have the chutzpah to pull such a stunt.

Even replies are now cleaned up. Modern bankers know that any overt display – joy or anger – can be rigged against them. Land a big bonus? mild depression; She doesn’t want the honchos to reconsider their generosity next year. Is it stiff? Offer a stoic nod and quietly ask for a follow-up chat. Ancient marvels are (mostly) artifacts, like Gordon’s Gecko Ancient Motorola phone brick. When I lead groups, there was never a single direct report that raised their voice or betrayed them beyond anger, even when their “numbers” were small.

Bankers know they are privileged to have access to more than 99 percent of the population. But their sense of entitlement isn’t about absolute numbers—it’s about comparisons. Nothing is more annoying than realizing a peer is taking home more. When their comp is not measured, the Relative Discontent turns into bitter bitterness.

Occasionally, one hears of a banker elsewhere who loses his temper after receiving a “doughnut” (industry slang for zero) or a low bonus. These rare eruptions only serve to show how far we have come from the old Storm and stress.

This change reflects broader changes in investment banking, which have replaced decades of volatile culture with a more regulated and savvy focus on optics and compliance. The annual bonus ceremony has become another carefully managed corporate event, with rough edges smoothed over by the development of office norms and institutional decorum.

So when you get a “number”, don’t slam the door on your way out – it’s against workplace conduct policy, and your employer may have reason to take back the shares you didn’t take!