Good evening,

As everyone runs around trying to tie up loose ends and restock the deal pipeline for the new year, bankers' most important conversations are taking place one-on-one in glassy offices. It's that time of year – performance reviews – and the headline act, bonuses.

While bonus numbers will take another month or two to be revealed, expectations are high following the performance review meetings. While bank bonuses are unlikely to track strong revenue growth in 2020, expectations across the street are that payments should be up.

It's an especially good time to be an Australian investment banker. Two noisy start-ups have local banking bosses on edge, and asking Hong Kong and New York for a bit of extra budget this year so they can keep the troops in their seats.

In deals, we reveal mid-market private equity firm Livingbridge's latest acquisition, and have another IPO contender from Macquarie Capital's stable.

Happy reading,

Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Tim Boyd
Street Talk Editors