Wall Street Bonuses Surged To A Record $49.2 Billion Pool Last Year

Forbes Daily Briefing

Forbes

News, Business, Tech News

4.4 • 18 Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2026

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Bonuses for Wall Street employees jumped to a record $49.2 billion overall pool, New York’s state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Thursday morning, which he attributed to strong trading activity and a 30% rise in Wall Street’s profits. KEY FACTS The $49.2 billion pool is 9% higher than the pool for 2024, DiNapoli said. The average bonus paid to securities industry employees was $246,900, which is 6% higher than the year prior. “Wall Street saw strong performance for much of last year, despite all of the ongoing domestic and international upheavals,” ⁠DiNapoli said⁠ in a release Thursday morning, adding the higher Wall Street profits are “good for our state and city budgets, which are reliant on the industry’s significant tax contributions.” Though this year's bonus pool is the highest on record, the 2006 pool adjusted for inflation edges it out at $53.7 billion in today’s dollars. Securities industry employment edged down slightly to 198,200 in 2025, DiNapoli said, adding financial sector job growth has been faster in other parts of the country, though New York still has the nation’s highest share of securities industry employees at 17.9%. DiNapoli estimated the bonuses would generate $199 million more in state income tax revenue and $91 million more for New York City over the previous year, but he said tax revenue may fall short of expectations as Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed budget assumed Wall Street bonuses would rise 25.9%. Read the full story on Forbes: By Conor Murray https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2026/03/26/wall-street-bonuses-surged-to-a-record-492-billion-pool-last-year/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	When the tax year ends on the 5th of April, valuable tax allowances may be lost simply because people left things too late.
0:08.0	Thankfully, Vanguard is here to help you make well-consider decisions, not rushed ones.
0:14.0	Their tax year-end hub is full of clear guidance, helpful tools and timely reminders to help you understand your allowances and give your investments the best chance to grow.
0:24.0	Search Vanguard investor to learn more. When investing, your capital is at risk. Tax rules apply.
0:31.2	The world moves fast. Your workday? Even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365
0:39.6	co-pilot is your AI assistant for work, built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft 365 apps you use,
0:48.6	helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize. So you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work.
0:56.2	Learn more at Microsoft.com slash M365 copilot.
1:00.4	Bonuses for Wall Street employees jumped to a record $49.2 billion overall pool,
1:06.1	New York State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Thursday morning,
1:09.4	which he attributed to strong trading
1:11.5	activity and a 30% rise in Wall Street's profits.
1:15.2	The average bonus paid to securities industry employees was $246,900, which is 6% higher
1:22.9	than the year prior. The $49.2 billion pool is 9% higher than the pool for 2024, DeNapoli said.
1:30.6	Though this year's bonus pool is the highest on record, the 2006 pool adjusted for inflation
1:36.0	edges it out at $53.7 billion in today's dollars.
1:40.6	Danapolis said in a release Thursday morning, quote, Wall Street saw strong performance for much of the last year,
1:46.8	despite all of the ongoing domestic and international upheavals.
1:50.6	He added the higher Wall Street profits are, quote,
1:53.3	good for our state and city budgets,
1:55.2	which are reliant on the industry's significant tax contributions.
1:59.5	Securities industry employment edged down slightly to 198,22025,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Forbes, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Forbes and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.