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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Lehman Brothers still paying bonuses

The European wing of the collapsed Lehman Brothers bank is continuing to hire staff and pay out bonuses.

Middle and back office workers are being sought to help process client transactions and determine where funds should be moved to, the Financial Times reported.

A judge recently approved an extra $50 billion worth of payouts to 230 derivative traders working with administrators on the bank’s $10 billion investment portfolio.

Steven Pearson, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and one of the four administrators, told the news provider that bonuses would be rewarded for the speedy return of money to creditors.

“We’ve made our strategy and reasoning clear to our creditors. We need to keep up with the market and we have to bear in mind that staff here have much narrower career development options than at other banks,” he explained.

Mr Pearson added that employing staff with experience of Lehman Brothers was also one way of making the process more efficient and ensuring money was distributed quicker.

Lehman Brothers Europe is thought to currently employ approximately 440 staff.

The figure is higher than the 360 anticipated to be working with the bank at this stage by PwC .

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