That whooshing, bubbling noise you can hear? It’s the sound of your deferred stock going up in smoke and your options sinking further underwater. The dismal performance of bank stocks this year has wiped more than $12bn – over a third – off the notional value of restricted stock that has been paid out in bonuses at a sample of 10 banks with big investment banking arms, according to research by Financial News.

And this doesn't even take into account the billions more that bankers have lost on shares that have vested and which they have held on to. Goldman Sachs staff own about 20% of the bank and are sitting on a paper loss of around $7bn this year. Share prices would, on average, have to more than double from where they are now for staff at banks in the sample to make any money from their stock options.