At the end of last year, I did a blog entry looking at how investment bankers were still raking in enormous bonuses, despite the Subprime Meltdown. Indeed, according to research at Breaking Views, bonuses at the biggest investment banks rose to a despite the subprime losses.

The basic problem with the bonus system is that the payouts go to certain superstars who are rewarded for taking enormous risks that payoff one year but turn bad the next, so bad that they damage the economy. And the structure rewards individual performance in a way that has nothing to do with how the group is travelling. Seriously stupid and counter-productive. And of course, it would backfire.

Now, new Merrill Lynch chief executive officer John Thain wants to change all that. "We are going to move toward a compensation system based more on how the whole company did, then on how the individual business did, then how the individual did," he has told the Financial Times.

Thain's comments are designed to placate shareholders angry over the bonus structure.

But the question is whether he is doing it after the horse has bolted.



Last week, Merrill Lynch joined the gaggle of investment banks that reported a nearly $10-billion fourth-quarter net loss caused by the sub-prime mortgage downturn.

And Thain has made it clear that the bank will continue to take risks. It's just that those risks will be smaller, reports the Huffington Post. But just how much smaller has not been spelled out. Once more shareholders are left in the dark.