| Bankers at four leading City firms will share an | | | | government to keep trading. |
| estimated £6.4 billion Christmas bonus pool as | | | | Morgan Stanley's 5,000 London staff are also |
| thousands of workers lose their jobs or go on to | | | | expected to receive around £50,000 each. The US |
| short time. | | | | government handed the bank a $6.4 billion hand out |
| Regardless of bringing the world economy to the | | | | earlier in the £9.7billion in emergency funding from |
| brink of bankruptcy, employees of London banks | | | | other investors. |
| Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and | | | | Merrill Lynch also came unstuck. Although it has had |
| Dresdner Kleinwort are expecting huge year-end | | | | to be taken over by Bank of America, it has set |
| bonuses. | | | | aside £2billion for performance bonuses, some of |
| Banks justify the payouts to best performers by | | | | which will go to London staff. |
| saying if they don’t give them top salaries they | | | | German investment bank Commerzbank is taking |
| risk seeing them go to rivals. | | | | over rival Dresdner Kleinwort, yet Kleinwort is giving |
| Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs has 5,400 staff in | | | | over £350million to bankers and trading staff in |
| London expecting a £50,0000 Christmas present | | | | London and Frankfurt. |
| from their employer, who will share a bonus pot of | | | | The High Street had some Christmas cheer as tills |
| £1.7billion, even though it plunged to a £1.4billion | | | | took slightly more than last week but are still down |
| loss in the fourth quarter. | | | | year-on-year. |
| Goldman had to accept a handout from the US | | | | |