Goldman Sachs has taken nearly $500m (€364m) out of this year’s staff compensation and bonus pool as a swing in trading revenues pushed the US bank to a $2.1bn net loss in the fourth quarter, its first three-month loss since 1994.

Goldman Sachs, whose chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein yesterday admitted the quarterly performance "obviously didn't meet our expectations", revealed in its fourth-quarter figures that compensation and benefits expenses for the period were negative, at -$490m.