I heard that the compensation system for traders changed in 2024, and many traders are under-compensated especially after poor bonuses in December. Why are so many resigning now or looking for jobs in trading companies. Nat. Gas traders, LNG traders and European oil and product traders seem to have had large numbers of resignations recently and many more appear to be looking? Are the trading bosses clueless?
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Do you know what the worst fact is ... even in case XOM lays you off XOM will not pay out your unvested RSUs which goes completely against the principles of those RSUs in the first place ...
Its farcical - experienced traders left because of P4P base salary cuts, Leatherhead and Brussels transitions. Younger, talented traders with actual P&L resigned because P4P took so long, and ultimately is still subjective forced ranking with limited upside compared to hedge funds / Vitol / Mercuria.
What’s left? Talentless, inexperienced hacks leaking value and optionality to the industry reporting to Exxon-lifer managers with zero trading experience.
EM kept base pay flat in 2024, but the new 40% cut in base pay takes effect in 2025. Those that bought houses or have kids in college have no choice but to quit. Demand for traders is very high, even big trading shops like BP, COP, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol are losing traders to hedge funds which can pay hi % of PNL. Shell lost an SVP of LNG to Mercuria. BP lost a gas trading VP. High demand for gas fired power (due to AI) is driving a fundamental change in demand for financial and physical traders. Europe shortfall in gas is driving demand for LNG traders. Many hedge funds are creating gas/LNG/power trading pods. Even sophisticated trading shops in IOCs (like COP/BP and Shell) are losing traders.
The industry recruiting season is Dec thru about April (after prior year bonuses have paid out). Since EM paid its trader bonus in December, there should be high turnover and attrition in the first quarter, as industry seats open and as vacancies increase. I hear power and gas and LNG traders are in demand and XOM is losing many of these traders. Also, hedge funds are starting to lock down its star traders with increasingly long "garden leaves" caused by non-competes. Many talented traders are on the sidelines and in "garden leave" so there are vacancies in hedge funds and trading companies. Also, it appears that the longer non-compete is starting to drive up base compensation, so ExxonMobil's cut in trader base pay is increasingly non-competitive.
Easy. Because they're all getting fu---d by Darren Woods La Quinta style. They can make a lot more money in other companies. So they leave. Easy.
Haven't heard much chatter about resignations after the bonuses were announced. Which location? Is there an external source backing this up?
Basically, DW has determined that traders will NOT make more than his executives who “earned” their pay and not by “gambling”.
Interesting how he always talks about paying “industry average” except when that average is more than he wants to pay YOU (of course he is underpaid so maybe he just wants time to catch up)
What's the point of them being CL30 if it's not executive comp? Does it have to do with DOAG?
Traders on pay-for-performance took a 40-50% pay cut. Bonus was almost all stock with the same 3 and 7 year vesting as lower CL RSUs. There is a cash component to the bonus. Rumor is the stock bonus barely kept them whole compared to pre-cut salary; however, they still have to wait for the stock to vest. Also, most if not all p4p traders are now CL30 and above, but not a traditional EM exec especially with the pay cut. You know it’s a cr-p system when the RE traders all opted out of the pay system and the one OwD trader quit.
how much do traders earn in EM annually?