Another Top Firm Said Raising Base Salaries

There are various media reports Wednesday that Citi is the latest firm to be planning to raise base salaries in order to retain its best employees. And Bloomberg says that salaries for investment bankers and traders could rise by as much as 50%.

The firm is also expected to award new stock options to certain staff, bearing in mind that the 84% fall in the company stock price means that current options for most are under water. Citi spokesperson Stephen Cohen was quick to point out, however, that 'any salary adjustments are not intended to increase total annual compensation, rather to adjust the balance between fixed and variable compensation'.

In the meantime, The Wall Street Journal reports that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, whose pension funds hold roughly a 3% stake in Morgan Stanley, has written to the firm's board asking them to roll back the salary increases it recently agreed for senior executives, including CFO Colm Kelleher and co-President Walid Chammah. The letter urged the firm 'to return base salaries to their previous levels and...reward executives for long-term value creation, not just showing up for work'.

Finally, The Times reports that there has been the predictable backlash now that details of 70% UK taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland CEO Stephen Hester's $16m comp package has been revealed. Unions are 'appalled', and politicians perplexed. Shadow Chancellor George Osborne described the deal as 'a one-way bet which smells of the old-style City' (A bit rich from a man who is said to have claimed $76 dollars in expenses from the UK taxpayer to buy two DVDs of one of his own speeches!).