Dick Fuld, chairman and chief executive officer of Lehman Brothers, was awarded $40.5m (€30.7m) in cash, stock and options for 2006, nearly a quarter less than the compensation payouts of the top three staff at rival Goldman Sachs.

Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelreid, co-presidents and chief operating officers of Goldman Sachs, each received $53m in total compensation last year, while their boss Lloyd Blankfein received a total $53.4m, a record for a Wall Street chief executive.