BNP Paribas has reduced bonuses across its investment banking division after a weak year for deals and trading. 

The French lender reduced total variable compensation in the unit by about 5 per cent, people familiar with the matter said. They didn’t say what the total amount will be.

A spokesperson for BNP Paribas declined to comment.

The move broadly mirrors decisions by several other European investment banks, with Deutsche Bank earlier on Thursday (Mar 14) reporting an average cut of about 10 per cent per employee in the division. UBS Group and Société Générale have also been planning to decrease their overall bonus pools for 2023, Bloomberg News has reported.  

BNP Paribas initially contemplated an even deeper cut to investment banking bonuses, but decided against that option when it learned that some of the biggest US banks were keeping bonuses largely unchanged, the people familiar with the matter said. They asked not to be named discussing private information.

JPMorgan and Citigroup have been planning to leave variable compensation for traders largely flat with the previous year, Bloomberg News reported in December. Goldman Sachs Group and Bank of America were looking to increase payouts by at least a few percentage points, people familiar with the matter said at the time.

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BNP Paribas’s trading revenue fell 7 per cent last year, driven by a 11 per cent decline at its fixed income unit. Revenue from trading rates products and commodities fell particularly strongly, the lender has said.

The total amount of variable compensation for the 1,154 employees whose work has the biggest impact on BNP Paribas’ risk profile, known as Material Risk Takers, was 593 million euros (S$864.09 million) last year. The investment banking division accounted for the largest chunk of that by far. BLOOMBERG