Tarp banks award billions in bonuses

By Greg Farrell in New York

Published: July 30 2009 18:18 | Last updated: July 30 2009 21:46

Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, which lost $55bn in 2008, between them paid 1,400 employees bonuses of $1m or more each, according to a New York state report, released on Thursday, on banks propped up with taxpayer funds.

The study, compiled by Andrew Cuomo, New York attorney-general, showed that JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, which both finished in the black last year, paid the most million-dollar bonuses - 1,626 and 953, respectively.

However, the totals at a profitable bank such as Goldman were nearly matched by two of the year’s biggest losers on Wall Street. Citi, which suffered a $27.7bn loss, paid million-dollar bonuses to 738 employees. Merrill, which lost $27.6bn, paid 696 bonuses of $1m or more.

“There is no clear rhyme or reason to the way banks compensate and reward their employees,â€