Less than a year before October 2009, the banks behind that year's record bonus pool, estimated at about $23 billion, had been on the edge of a run on the bank.

Judged as of October 2009. True: the large Wall Street banks whose 2009 bonus pool was estimated at around $23 billion (a record or near-record figure, roughly $20-26bn) had faced, between about October 2008 and October 2009, a real threat of depositor or creditor flight or funding collapse (for example the September-October 2008 funding runs on Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, emergency bank-holding-company conversions, government rescue capital). Mostly true: the near-run episode is well documented but fell slightly more than a year earlier (for example mid-September 2008), or the bonus estimate is a little off the cited figure or 'record' status. Mixed: only some of the banks behind the pool were near a run, or the bonus figure is substantially wrong while the near-run point holds. Mostly false: the banks faced stress but no credible run risk, overstated as being on the edge of a run. False: the evidence shows these banks were not under run-type funding pressure in that period.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Liquidity Crises | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis · 17 May 2011

   “What happened in September 2008 was a kind of bank run. Creditors lost confidence in the ability of investment banks to redeem short-term loans, leading to a precipitous decline in lending in the repurchase agreements (repo) market.”

2. E2 2000–2009 | FDIC.gov FDIC · 15 May 2025

   “Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley become bank holding companies (BHCs) regulated by the Federal Reserve. The decision is intended to provide them the benefit of market perceptions that such oversight strengthens financial institutions and to allow these institutions access to liquidity and financing facilities”

3. E3 2000–2009 | FDIC.gov FDIC · 15 May 2025

   “Wachovia had been having difficulty meeting its liquidity needs, and the failure of WaMu added to concerns among depositors and other creditors. On September 26, the bank notified its lead federal supervisor (the OCC) that it would be unable to obtain the funds needed to pay creditor claims”

4. E4 DiNapoli: Wall Street Bonuses Rose Sharply in 2009 Office of the New York State Comptroller · 23 February 2010

   “Wall Street bonuses paid to New York City securities industry employees rose by 17 percent to $20.3 billion in 2009, according to an estimate released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.”

E1, a Minneapolis Fed essay, describes September 2008 as a kind of bank run in which creditors lost confidence in investment banks' ability to redeem short-term loans. E2 records that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley became bank holding companies to gain access to liquidity facilities, and E3 records a bank unable to obtain funds to pay creditor claims. The documented episode falls in September 2008, slightly more than a year before October 2009, which the criteria grade as mostly true. E4 puts 2009 bonuses at $20.3 billion, within the criteria's range, though the evidence does not show record status.