After head office took an axe to bonuses, a key issue for Deutsche Bank Australia over the next two months will be staff retention.
Local Deutsche employees were told those eligible for a bonus would be informed of their payments in March, similar timing to last year. The bank reports global earnings in early February.
In a nutshell, it's not good news for Deutsche Bank-ers.
Run-of-the-mill bonuses are off the cards for staff at a vice president level, or higher this year. Junior staff will receive bonuses, as usual.
On top of this, all staff will be eligible for what is known as the "group variable compensation component" of their bonus. That's the portion based on the bank's overall performance, after gauging four key indicators.
Street Talk understands this means vice-presidents and the levels below can receive up to another 4 per cent of their salary, while managing directors and above may receive up to 10 per cent of their base pay.
As a further concession, "crucial positions" at the bank will be granted a long-term incentive, partly in shares, deferred for up to six years.
By delaying bonus day and introducing retention measures, Deutsche is hopeful that will go some way to keeping staff on side.
The lion's share of annual staff movement across investment banking and equities happens after bonuses land in bank accounts.
It was announced globally this week that Deutsche is substantially cutting 2016 bonuses as it seeks to emerge from its financial woes and meet a a $US7.2 billion ($9.6 billion) legal settlement with US authorities.
Despite saying roughly 75 per cent of Deutsche employees would not be affected or "hardly affected" by the changes, the bank has canned individual bonuses for senior staff including vice presidents, directors and managing directors.
Elsewhere in bonuses, Deutsche's cuts overshadowed Goldman Sachs' local bonus day on Thursday. It followed JPMorgan's staff learning of their payments on Wednesday, after Citigroup on Monday and Morgan Stanley last week.
Bonus payments are broadly down on last year across the industry by as much as 15 per cent. Junior staff are said to have fared better across most of the US banks.
