Big U.S. banks see higher expenses from workers’ rising wages – Reuters

Big U.S. banks see higher expenses from workers’ rising wages – Reuters

NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Big U.S. banks will spend more on salaries and benefits this year, as inflationary pressures, pandemic risks and the tight labor market force them to raise wages to get and keep workers.

The nation's six biggest banks - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Bank of America (BAC.N), Citigroup (C.N), Wells Fargo & Co , Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) - have taken steps to raise some workers' wages in 2021 and several raised expense projections for the coming year.

"We are seeing certainly fierce competition in the war for talent, and that's playing out in wage inflation," Emily Portney, chief financial officer for Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK.N), told Reuters in an interview after reporting fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday. read more