Is the culture of Wall Street bonuses changing for good?

"Compensation is way too high," says Morgan Stanley's CEO. "I'm sort of sympathetic to the shareholder view that the industry is still overpaid."

Wall street traders are just going to have to settle for the "new normal".
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Once upon a time, Wall Street investment bankers and traders spent all year looking forward to December and January; for most of them, these were the months when they learned the details of their bonus payments, which in some cases accounted for 90 percent of their total compensation for the year. The rest of the New York City economy also waited with bated breath, as Wall Streeters used their annual windfalls to put down payments on new homes, buy the latest cars and generally spend lavishly.

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