a trader watches his screen on floor of the new york stock exchange nyse shortly before the close of trading in new york us december 13 2016 new york dec 15 reuters breakingviews  the windfall coming to wall street bankers is the worstkept secret of 2021 the bonus pools at jpmorgan jpmn goldman sachs gsn and the rest have swelled read more  which means bankers can take home more without shareholders settling for less just like any market that has been artificially stimulated it’s the return to normal that poses the challenge jpmorgan and goldman are both planning to raise bonuses by upwards of 40 for investment bankers who work on deals initial public offerings and such the increase is partly arithmetic in an industry where a big chunk of pay is performancelinked bonuses rise when revenue does and markets have been buoyant read more  goldman’s compensation expense in the first nine months of the year rose 34 as its top line expanded 31 but banks are also reversing some of the restraint they showed in 2020 last year goldman’s pay as a share of revenue fell to 30 from 34 the year before compensation increased but at a slower pace than the top line jpmorgan’s investment banking and trading division paid out 24 compared with 28 for each of the three preceding years so long as those ratios remain stable or fall as they have done for years now increasing pay doesn’t conflict with the rising profit that investors demand that could change this year with socalled comp ratios set to rise again for hints bankers only need consider the lucky few at the top goldman boss david solomon took a 10 million pay cut in january only to get a 30 million special incentive in october read more  jpmorgan just handed daniel pinto a potential successor to chief executive jamie dimon a 25 million stock award on top of the 245 million he was paid in 2020 yet it may be tougher than usual to bring bonuses down again if markets lose their froth assuming a constant pay ratio if revenue in 2022 fell back to 2019 levels then overall compensation would slump by almost 40 from this year at solomon’s firm and by 25 at dimon’s breakingviews calculates that’s a potential problem because big banks no longer just compete against each other for talent cryptocurrency and financial technology firms are hiring aggressively a shrinking wall street bonus pool in 2022 could be just what those brash new rivals need  jpmorgan and goldman sachs may raise their bonus pools for investment bankers by as much as 40 and 50 respectively in 2021 reuters reported on dec 14 citing sources familiar with the banks’ initial discussions  record levels of dealmaking and trading activities have driven profit at investment banks this year as economic stimulus measures helped propel stock markets globally to alltime highs  jpmorgan’s compensation expense for the first nine months of the year was 107 billion for its investment banking and trading division 11 higher than a year earlier goldman’s was 145 billion 34 higher than the same period in 2020