THE number of high-flying City workers set to scoop a £1 million-plus bonus is expected to rocket by 40 per cent this year.
With the stockmarket performing strongly and a booming mergers and acquisitions scene, windfalls in the Square Mile are set to soar to around £8.8 billion - with around 4200 City workers bagging seven-figure bonuses.
The Centre for Economics and
Business Research estimates that the amount paid out in bonuses this year will be around a fifth higher than last year's figure of £7.4bn.
Last year, only 3000 workers were handed top-level bonuses of over £1m, but a bumper three months in the City, strengthened by a good stock market recovery and continued growth in mergers and acquisitions, private equity and hedge fund activity, has boosted numbers for 2006.
Bonuses, which come on top of a workers' annual salary, can run to tens of millions of pounds for the top traders and other dealmaking high fliers. Jonathan Said, senior economist at the CEBR, said: "Continuing strong merger and acquisition activity in 2006 - which is highly bonus-oriented - is driving corporate earnings up and the stock market higher.
"Looking forward, City bonuses are likely to trend upwards - though at a slower growth rate - as an increasing number of incentivised private equity firms based in London continue to squeeze company costs and drive corporate profits."
The full article contains 255 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
