Banker Bonuses Turn Into ‘Scratch-Off Ticket’ With Stock Swings

Picture this: It’s Wall Street bonus season. The year is 2022. A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader is handed $100,000 in deferred stock. Her uptown rival at Bank of America Corp. is given an identical award on the very same day.

Now, three years on those awards have fully vested with wildly divergent results: The Goldman staffer would have been able to clear more than $113,000. The Bank of America trader, though, would have netted less than $83,000.

Such is the uncertainty that comes with one of Wall Street’s favorite forms of compensation: The value of a bonus at the ...