BUSINESS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2015

Wall St bonuses to plunge as revenue drops NEW YORK: Wall Street bankers and traders quarter earnings on Monday, Citigroup ana- Fixed Income Traders ness has slowed in the last several weeks. “I are likely to get smaller bonuses for 2015 as lyst Keith Horowitz estimates that it will have For fixed income traders, however, “flat would have to assume that it has to do trading revenue plunges. Goldman Sachs said cut its spending on compensation by 7 per- is the new up,” said Mike Karp, CEO of something with the market,” said Martin. on Thursday that it set aside 16 percent less cent for the quarter. Regarding the fourth financial services recruiting firm Options money for compensation in the third quarter quarter, JPMorgan CFO Marianne Lake said Group. Equities traders may fare better, he Belt-Tightening compared with the same period in 2014. The on Tuesday that “markets are pretty quiet” so added. The weaker trading environment is To be sure, not every bank will neces- fourth quarter, when banks determine how far this month. Any declines in revenue may hurting banks, as are the costs of comply- sarily cut bonuses by the same amount, much they will pay for bonuses, may bring lit- affect what the bank will spend on compen- ing with new rules imposed after the finan- and declines can vary dramatically from tle relief for employees. Goldman’s total trad- sation. Bonuses across Wall Street could fall cial crisis. Banks “are starting to restructure one employee to another at the same ing revenue dropped 15 percent in the third about 10 percent this year, with traders tak- their pay strategy because five or six years bank. The last two months of the year may quarter after volume fell in fixed income, cur- ing the biggest hit, said Alan Johnson, man- after the crisis they have extra costs,” end up being pivotal for bonuses and rencies, and commodities. Many investors are aging director of pay consulting firm Johnson Johnson said. Universal banks such as change the amount that banks pay out. reluctant to take on too much risk in bonds Associates. Investment bankers, meanwhile, JPMorgan and Citigroup are also under But other signs of belt tightening at banks and related derivatives until they have a bet- will likely see higher pay, as the environment pressure from historically low interest have already emerged. Contractors in the ter sense of when the US central bank will for mergers and acquisitions remains strong. rates, which depress revenue from lending. investment banking division at HSBC start raising benchmark interest rates. Deal volume in the first three quarters totaled In New York City, Wall Street pay has Holdings Plc in will see their pay Other banks set aside less money for pay $1.02 trillion, up 11 percent from the same traditionally had an effect on things rang- cut by 10 percent amid sluggish deal activ- in the third quarter as well. JPMorgan Chase & period last year, Thomson Reuters data show. ing from the city’s budget to the price of ity, Reuters reported. JPMorgan has been Co said on Tuesday that it had set aside 13 Goldman tops the league tables with 299 real estate and the fortunes of local mer- cutting costs all year, and is even asking percent less money for compensation in the deals as of the end of September, generating chants. At Vintry Fine Wines, located near some employees to pay for their own cell third quarter compared with the same period $2.6 billion in M&A advisory fees so far this Goldman’s 200 West Street headquarters in phones, according to the Wall Street last year. When Morgan Stanley posts third year. Manhattan, manager Mike Martin said busi- Journal. — Reuters

Cafe puts London gentrification in focus Protests erupt as house prices rise LONDON: When two bearded brothers from opened a retro cafe devoted to cereal in the trendy London suburb of , they had little idea of the ire it would ignite. “Our communities are being ripped apart,” the “Class War” group said on its website ahead of violent protests which saw the “Cereal Killer Cafe” daubed in graffi- ti and bottles hurled in the street. The activists blamed “oligarchs”, “sheikhs” and “scumbag property developers” for the proliferation of luxury flats unaffordable to most people. Northern Irish entrepreneurs Gary and Alan Keery are of course none of the above. But their cafe, bedecked in 1980s and 1990s memorabilia and selling over 120 brands of cereal at upwards of £3 ($6) a bowl, found itself at the sharp end of a growing anti-gentrifica- tion movement in a city where the cost of living is soaring. , for decades the heart of London’s Bangladeshi community, is increasingly populated by the trendy hipsters now seen as synony- mous with the once deprived local area, Shoreditch.

‘Gentrification on Steroids’ Paul Watt, reader in urban studies at Birkbeck University, London, believes last month’s protest was a reaction to a process of change whereby social housing has been replaced with luxury new develop- ments, and small retailers supplanted by big business. “It’s gentrifica- tion on steroids,” he said, describing the “growing corporatization of retail space and housing”. “Much of it is simply unaffordable for ordi- nary people. People are being pushed out of the city,” he said. The average house price in the British capital stands at £430,000 LONDON: Pedestrians walk past the Cereal Killer Cafe in Brick Lane in Shoreditch, east London, on Oct 12, 2015. — AFP and could rise to £1 million by 2020 if the rise continues at the cur- rent rate, according to property website Rightmove. In the fight for being “brushed aside”. “Self regeneration is being pushed aside for encing the same tensions. Kristian Niemietz, head of health and wel- affordable homes, dozens of campaign groups have sprung up big faceless corporations,” she said. In April hundreds of anti-gentrifi- fare for the Institute of Economic Affairs, believes anti-gentrification across the capital, battling to save tower blocks and housing estates, cation protesters in Brixton, southeast London, took to the streets, protesters are as irked by the erosion of “coolness” as they are by rock- as well as markets and local shops, from developers. angry that local residents and businesses were being driven out of the eting house prices. “The reason why people get attracted to these “Rents and house prices have rocketed,” said Eileen Conn, who area by rising rents. Rioters smashed the window of an upmarket areas is they acquired a reputation as being trendy or cool... it runs the campaign group Peckham Vision in another rapidly chang- estate agents. becomes a status symbol to live there,” he said. “The thing with status ing part of London. “It is a bit like being in a flood that we are caught While the owners of the Cereal Killer Cafe can hardly be seen as symbols is that they lose their value when more people acquire up in... the global financial system pouring money into London prop- representing big corporates, the area in which they operate is experi- them.” — AFP erty and pushing prices up everywhere, irrespective of local needs.” Conn, a retired civil servant, campaigns tirelessly on behalf of local traders in Peckham, now emerging as a desirable, fashionable area. One man who feels unjustly affected by the changes is Peckham Gulf company to build €4.5bn Bosnian city market trader Yassine Melki who has sold home textiles there for SARAJEVO: A -based developer is set to begin in April. increase in visitors from Gulf states almost 25 years. Plans for a new gym near his stall now mean he is signed a €4.5-billion ($5.1-billion) con- “This is my life project and I hope such as UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in being forced to move from a busy thoroughfare to a quieter spot tract on Thursday to build a “tourist that we will finish it without delay”, the recent years. The “tourist city” is the lat- where he fears custom will be harder to come by. “I feel really let city” in Bosnia, which has become a company’s president Ismail Ahmed est in a series of large property projects down. It is these big companies - we are too small for them, they do magnet for investment from the United said at the signing ceremony. “I sin- by Gulf companies. A tourist resort not care how we are going to look after our families,” said the Arab Emirates (UAE). Buroj Property cerely believe in this because I am con- built by a Kuwaiti investor around 30 Algerian-born father-of-three. — AFP Development plans to build thousands vinced that Bosnia is an important km from Sarajevo is scheduled to open of homes, several hotels, a shopping global tourist destination that has yet today. Elsewhere, a Saudi company is ‘Faceless Corporations’ mall and a hospital in the municipality to be discovered,” he said. building a new residential area com- Southwark Council, which ordered Melki to move his stall, argues of Trnovo at the foot of Bjelasica, one The Balkan country of 3.8 million prising more than 200 villas in the hills that it is part of a bigger plan to redevelop the area that will ultimately of four mountains surrounding the people, 40 percent of whom are of Sarajevo. The project is slated for attract more business. But Conn, who is supporting the market trad- capital Sarajevo. Work on the complex Muslims, has registered a significant completion by the end of 2016. — AFP er’s case, sees it as a “recurring theme” of established businesses