JPMorgan Investment-Bank Pay Pool Falls to $341,552 Per Person

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s investment bank cut employee compensation 9 percent to $8.88 billion in 2011 as the division generated 0.2 percent more revenue last year.

The expense, which includes salaries, bonuses and benefits, was enough to give each of the unit’s 25,999 employees an average of $341,552, according to figures posted today on the New York-based company’s website. The division set aside $9.73 billion in 2010 to pay traders, dealmakers and other personnel, or $369,651 for each of the 26,314 people on staff (JPM) at the end of that year.

JPMorgan’s investment bank had 616 fewer people at the end of the fourth quarter than at the end of the previous three- month period and 315 fewer than a year earlier, according to the disclosure. Staff companywide expanded 8 percent to 260,157 from 2010.

Jes Staley, chief executive officer of JPMorgan’s investment bank, set aside 34 percent of the division’s revenue for pay last year, down from 37 percent in 2010.

Investment-bank employees were bracing for a smaller-than- usual bonus pool even as annual net income for the unit climbed 2 percent to $6.79 billion from a year earlier. A portion of the division’s quarterly profits came from one-time accounting adjustments, skewing results.

From: Bloomberg