In the wake of landmark profits posted by the US banking industry last week, Washington will seek to strike a delicate balance toward massive bonuses expected to be paid out by Wall Street, experts said.

If President Barack Obama's administration helps “to make this a bigger issue politically, they will be pushed to do things they don’t want to,” said Douglas Elliott of the Brookings Institution, referring to previous calls to cap compensation that were roundly rejected by Wall Street.

In a bid to simultaneously support financial firms’ innovation and not enrage a downtrodden public facing a tough economy, the administration “would prefer not to spend much time on this topic,” Elliott told AFP. Wall Street investment leader Goldman Sachs surmounted profit forecasts on Thursday with a 3.19-billion-dollar gain in the third quarter — more than triple the amount posted for the same period last year. Fellow industry giant JPMorgan Chase similarly saw its quarterly gains soar to 3.6 billion dollars. Even struggling banker Citigroup topped expectations with 101 million dollars in profit.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal estimated that the top 23 US banks and securities firms are planning to pay out 140 billion dollars in bonuses to their staff — a record high that surpasses the peak year of 2007.

“The compensation issue is one of the few remaining things that can get people very angry,” Elliott said, noting that financial groups and government officials alike are seeking to ensure “they can pay their people to keep them motivated” without arousing public anger. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said Sunday that he understood the anger at large bonuses, and said the banks had a key role to play in restoring confidence in the financial system.

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