Street Talk

Smiles all round at Morgan Stanley as Wall St bonus season opens

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Jan 13, 2025 – 7.58pm

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After a lean three years, it looks like investment bankers are in for a healthier-looking bonus period – also known as envelope day – this year. At the local outpost of Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley, bonuses were handed out heading into the weekend. There was plenty to be happy about.

People briefed on the remuneration said Morgan Stanley’s local investment banking chiefs, Richard Wagner and Tim Church, managed to convince the mothership to bless bonus increases of as much as 50 per cent – or even more – for their top managing directors and star performers.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.