Top Irish banker seeks €15m Lehman payout
Sunday November 15 2009
A TOP Irish banker is seeking over €15.4m in lost pay and bonuses from the administrators of the collapsed bank Lehman Brothers.
Dubliner Kieran Higgins, who received a maths degree from Trinity College, Dublin, in the early 1990s, has filed a claim seeking compensation for lost pay and stock options.
Mr Higgins, who served as one of the co-heads of Lehman Brothers' fixed income business, now works for Japanese bank Nomura, which bought Lehman's European equities and investment banking arms. He lives in London.
Lehman Brothers collapsed and filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, prompting terror on global stock markets. It was the largest bankruptcy in corporate history.
Mr Higgins is one of a number of high-earning former Lehman staffers who have taken action against the bank and its administrators.
His claim is dwarfed by that of Joseph Gregory, Lehman's former second-in-command, who is seeking almost €160m in lost pay and bonuses.
The size of Mr Higgins' claim underlines the scale of bonuses and salaries paid to high-flying bankers at the peak of the market. This has led to considerable political noise about capping bankers' pay in Europe and the US.
Bonuses are already being allocated again in the City of London, just over a year after the near collapse of the financial system.
- Nick Webb
Sunday Independent
