London bankers who've gone 4 years without bonuses are possibly in for a pleasant surprise
However badly you feel about your bonus for 2025, at least you probably got one. There are many people working in London banks who did not. Nor did they get bonuses for 2024, 2023, 2022 and maybe not for 2021.
These are the people of London's struggling small and mid-cap brokers. They include those working for the likes of Peel Hunt, Panmure Liberum, Zeus Capital, Investec and beyond. Some - like those at Investec - have received bonuses in recent years. Many have not.
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There are tales, which do not seem apocryphal, of people at these firms going without bonuses since 2020. Unlike US and European banks, which award and pay bonuses between January and March, these UK brokerage firms typically pay around now. The outlook is mixed.
At Peel Hunt, for example, bonuses have not been paid since 2022, but 2026 could be the start of a new era. Peel Hunt declined to comment for this article, but multiple sources tell us bonuses there are likely to be forthcoming.
It helps that revenues at Peel Hunt were up nearly 40% in the first six months of the firm's financial year (ending September 2025) and that an investor update in March indicated that full year revenues should exceed £140m with profits "materially head of expectations," despite the war. If this comes to pass when Peel Hunt announces full year results in mid-June, revenues will be up 60% year-on-year. If bonuses aren't paid following this performance, they may never be.
Elsewhere, the prognosis is more mixed. Panmure Liberum has already paid its bonuses and they appear to have been variable. Last March, we reported that Panmure Liberum hadn't paid bonuses for three years. This year, some people don't appear to have been paid again and there are unconfirmed suggestions that the zeroes were widespread. "There are lots of unhappy people at Panmure," says one headhunter, speaking off the record. A spokesman for the firm said: “Panmure Liberum continues to make bonus awards to appropriately reward and retain its staff base.”
Even if bonuses are paid at the UK's brokers this year, the best method of monetising life at a midcap broking firm may be to earn stock bought out by a larger bank seeking to grow in the sector. Numis people did very well from being purchased by Deutsche Bank, for example. However, things have gone less favourably since then, with many let go.
One senior London banker says there's room for further consolidation in the future. Barclays, Santander, RBC and BNP Paribas could all buy the smaller brokerages, he suggests. "If you try to build, it takes a decade." If you get a stock bonus this year, it may be wise to keep it.
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