HAPPY DOW IS HERE AGAIN

BANZAI7 NEWS--The biggest banks in the US and Europe set aside close to $300bn (€221.5bn) for compensation and benefits in 2009, eclipsing the previous year's total by tens of billions of dollars, according to analysis of their full-year results by Financial News.

The 20 biggest banks in the western world, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs paid out $293.29bn in compensation and benefits in 2009 - a year in which they faced intense scrutiny from regulators, governments, shareholders and the public over their pay practices in the wake of the financial crisis. In 2008, these banks set aside about $265.66bn for compensation and benefits.