Lehman and Bear survivors may get best bonuses

By Joseph A. Giannone

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers executives that survived the collapses of their firms and found new jobs should get bigger bonuses than their peers at Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), a compensation consultant said on Thursday.

It is no surprise by now that the global credit crisis, together with regulatory pressure and consolidation among the biggest U.S. banks, will lead to smaller 2008 bonuses for Wall Street bankers, traders and money managers.

Compensation and executive recruiting firm Options Group estimates the average bonus worldwide will fall by almost half this year, a period when tens of thousands of employees have been fired. Options Group estimated 50,000 to 60,000 more jobs will be cut over the course of the bear market, according to a report to be published next week.

Individual payouts will vary widely, depending on location, business line and firm. Suddenly Bear and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ.PK) executives who were recruited by other firms may enjoy an advantage over their counterparts at firms that survived the credit crunch.

"The fact is that retained professionals received guarantees from JPMorgan Chase, Nomura (Holdings Inc)

(8604.T) and Barclays to stick around through the end of 2008," Options Group wrote. "In the case of Lehman Europe and Asia, Nomura attempted to convince these professional to stay through 2009 as well with additional cash guarantees."

Similarly, brokers at Merrill Lynch & Co Inc MER.N will fare better than their firm, which fled into the arms of Bank of America Corp (BAC.N). Merrill brokers have been offered up to 100 percent of their annual commissions from last year as retention bonuses.

Of course the collapse of Bear, which was forced into a fire sale with JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Lehman, where a bulk of the business was acquired by Barclays (BARC.L) out of bankruptcy, has also been painful. More than 40 percent of these firms' employees lost jobs and have not reemerged at other banks.