Big, full-throttle bankers' bonuses are back, baby!

And London's fattest cats will be purring over the toys that money can buy

- JONATHAN PRYNN

The end of winter and the approaching spring means only one thing in the City. That blissful - or sometimes bitterly disappointing - day when you find out the number of noughts on your bonus. This year's "bonus season" - rewarding performance in 2024 - has been particularly keenly anticipated. It comes as the end of the first full calendar year since the cap on bonuses, put in place in the wake of the financial crisis, was scrapped in the UK in October 2023.

The move came too late to move the dial that year a pretty dismal one for the City anyway. But now things feel different: big fat bonuses are back. Not for everyone. But for the Premier League of dealmakers it is looking good.

According to Logan Naidu, founder and CEO of recruitment firm Dartmouth Partners, "bonuses have been strong, they have generally been up around 10 to 15 per cent".

Desks that seem to have been particularly well rewarded include private equity and debt capital markets. Junior analysts at the big investment banks can hope for bonuses of £30,000 to £50,000, while a managing director might get 10 times that. There is still a smattering of multi-million-pound payouts for the very top profit earners.

And that is also great news for the many London companies that depend on City professionals splashing their cash. Supercar auction platform Collecting Cars says it saw a record number of UK registrants - about two thirds from London and the South-east - sign up to its site in January and February to run the rule over luxury marques ranging from Lamborghinis to classic Porsche 911s.