Responding to outcries from outraged shareholders and government regulators, banks like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Citi (whose shares traded under $1 for a time after the crash) increased the share of high- and mid-level bankers' annual pay to a deferred-compensation system. It's not a new concept in financial services, but now accounts for roughly 75% of high-rollers' pay package – up from about 25% pre-recession.
That said, deferred stock payments paid out in 2009, 2010, or even 2012, when bank shares were still tanking, have in some cases nearly doubled in value, with those same stock prices now soaring. For the lucky bankers who are able to cash in their IOUs as soon as January 2015, it's been well worth the wait.
And it's a win/win for state and city tax coffers; not to mention investors, who can argue that the banks succeeded in lowering their salary levels to bring them more in line with individual performance.