Goldman Sachs on Wednesay began celebrating confirmation of bumper bonuses for this year, with the chairman and chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, expected to lead the pack with a 30 per cent increase in his pay to about $70m.

The figures for Goldman came as Lehman Brothers said it would award Dick Fuld, chief executive, $41m worth of restricted stock as part of his 2007 compensation. In total, Mr Fuld stands to earn more than $50m for last year when cash bonus and other payments are disclosed next year.