Incentive payments 'decline among Wall Street companies'

Bonus payments for US financial organisations are likely to have fallen during the third quarter of 2011, according to a report.

Projections from Johnson Associates have suggested that incentive compensation packages have declined over the most recent three-month period, particularly among investment and commercial banking firms.

This is due to a combination of factors, including the continuing slow performance of the global economy, which is leading to market uncertainty, layoff announcements and regulatory pressures.

Moreover, the high-profile nature of movements such as Occupy Wall Street has created increased scrutiny on compensation policies, which is applying further downward pressure.

As such, the analyst has observed "declining incentive compensation across financial services with variations by sector; however, in most cases incentives remain well below 2007 highs".

This comes after a recent Fulbright & Jaworski report for Corporate Board Member magazine suggested that new say on pay laws are also changing the way companies calculate their pay policies.