No cash bonus was disclosed for 2009, but Mr Gorman, who became CEO on 1 January, is expected to receive a deferred cash bonus which will be made public when the bank files its proxy statement in April.

According to a report in the New York Times, Mr Gorman is expected to receive $3 million to $5 million in cash, which would be deferred for three years.

Bonus payments to bank executives, especially those, which like Morgan Stanley, have received bailout funds, are a hot political issue. Morgan Stanley has, however, repaid money it received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

President Barack Obama has moved impose a levy on banks, while in other countries, high executive remuneration deals have led to calls for controls.

In Mr Gorman's case, payments may even be withheld, because part of the deferred cash payments to Morgan Stanley executives will be tied to metrics based on the bank’s performance over the next three years.

Mr Gorman’s annual salary for 2009 was $800,000.

Bowing to popular criticism, Morgan Stanley and other Wall Street banks are for going large cash bonuses that had been the norm for top executives.

In 2006 John Mack, Mr Gorman’s predecessor as Morgan Stanley's CEO, received a bonus of $40 million.

A year later, Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs chief executive, received a record $68 million bonus.