Goldman Sachs has earmarked $16.9bn (€11.5bn) for compensation and benefits for the first nine months of this year, meaning that if its employees pooled all their pay they would be able to buy struggling rival investment bank Bear Stearns with money to spare.

The stock market values Bear Stearns at about $14.7bn, so Goldman bankers and other workers would be able to buy the bank led by Jimmy Cayne with more than $2bn left over, according to Bloomberg.