Trader suing Merrill over bonus

A STAR equities trader at Merrill Lynch is suing his former investment banking bosses - because he received a bonus of only £230,000.

Stephen Fairholme, who was a senior dealer in South African equities, was employed by Merrills in 1998 at a basic salary of £91,000.

In a High Court writ seen by Financial Mail, Fairholme claims that Merrills also promised him a bonus of more than £270,000. The money was to be paid in January 1999. But he says that £42,000 of the bonus did not go to him directly. Instead, it was put into a long-term bonus scheme on Fairholme's behalf.

The 33-year-old former trader, who lives in Notting Hill, west London, is suing the American giant for the 'missing' money.

Fairholme is making a further claim for what he says he should have been paid in 2000. In January that year he received a bonus of $360,000 - equivalent to £251,000 at today's exchange rate. He claims he should have received much more.

His writ claims that during the period that the bonus should reflect, he made $14 million for Merrills. 'The industry norm for bonus calculation is in the region of 10% of profit generated,' says Fairholme's writ. That would have given him almost £1 million.

Merrills and Fairholme declined to comment.