Wall Street's most successful bank caps bonuses for UK

The only difference being this year, Goldman Sachs, Wall Street's most successful bank, will announce a bonus pool 18 pct lower than in 2007 as it sets out a strategy to compensate for Alistair Darling's supertax on bonuses.

The bank becomes the second major investment bank to do so, following Credit Suisse's thirty per cent cuts to UK staff.

This time, the famed 'masters of the universe' will bear a reduced pay capped at £1 million although shares will also be given over the next three years (though they cannot be sold for five).

In total the 2009 bonus pool will be £10 billion.

"We’re not blind to the pain and suffering still going on around the world and we’re not deaf to the calls for restraint. We heard them." said David Viniar, Goldman Sachs' finance director.

The news follows a mixed week where the Haitian earthquake overshadowed banking news, leaving Citigroup locations damaged with five employees killed.

Today, the bank announced that operations had resumed in the Caribbean country.

Citigroup and RBS, who both faced government aid during the last year are now facing increasing pressure to make cuts to their bonus pools thought to be in the region of £15.4 billion and £1.5 billion respectively.

Both face political pressure to reduce bonuses due to the fact they earned it from taxpayers money.