The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that performance-based compensation at Canada's biggest banks jumped 12 per cent to $23.75-billion this year, up from a 9-per-cent increase in 2023. The Globe's Stefanie Marotta and Jameson Berkow write that the bonus-pool increases range widely between banks, from a 4-per-cent rise at Bank of Nova Scotia to a 19-per-cent hike at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. "This is one of the cloudiest years we have seen," said Bill Vlaad at executive recruitment firm Vlaad and Company. "Most of the time we have strong confidence that bonuses are going to be up or down fairly definitively. This year it is a little less certain," Mr. Vlaad said. Bonuses are usually based on performance, and most of that compensation is paid to capital markets employees, including traders, analysts and investment bankers, whose pay is typically more variable depending on performance and market conditions. There are also disparities among different capital markets teams. CIBC increased its bonus pool by 19 per cent to $2.99-billion. CIBC's stock has surged 47 per cent since the start of 2024 as revenue jumped 13 per cent and profit rose to $7.2-billion from $5-billion in the 2023 fiscal year.