Bankers' Bonuses 银行家的奖金

By Economics Correspondent Andrew Walker

Bankers are not popular in the UK right now

媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Background: 高盛投资银行英国分部的高层老板决定把去年的工资和奖金额度限定在一百万英镑或一百六十万美元之内。

After a year of strong profits, Goldman Sachs bankers could have been in line for even larger bonuses.

But in Britain the top hundred or so are limiting themselves to $1.6m (6.8m yuan) in total.

The saving to the bank could be worth several hundred million dollars.

Other executives at the bank are not subject to this limit however.

The move suggests the bank is responding to public and political pressure over pay in the financial sector, though to many people the figure will not seem to show very much restraint.

Goldman Sachs did not receive direct support from the British Treasury, though it did receive an investment from the US government which it has now repaid.

Two days ago, it emerged that the British bank Barclays would defer payment of some bonuses, a move intended to reduce the incentive to take excessive risks.