Rainmaker: The 'dirty" word on the City's lips Bonus season, as it is known in the City, has, since the start of the financial crisis, become something of a dirty word. The period, the timing of which varies from bank to bank, sees bankers and other City professionals given an assessment of the year just ended in financial terms. For many, the time-honoured tradition of being taken in to an office by a senior manager and handed an envelope containing details of their bonus is still one of the most elating, or disappointing, days of the year. Personal highs and lows to one side, however, what is clear is that the gap between the City and the rest of the UK will loom large over the next six to eight weeks. While millions worry about the loss of a portion of child benefit or their financial standing following the introduction of the Government's Universal Credit, the conversations in the banking world will be about how many zeroes were contained within that small envelope. Front and centre in the likely pay row will be the heads of some of the UK's big banks who many in society - rightly or wrongly - blame for damaging the economy in the first place. Although Stephen Hester, chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, has already said he will forego his bonus for 2011, the compensation of his rivals at Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays will be closely scrutinised. While the actual amount each man will receive will not be known for some time - and even then the bulk of amounts awarded will depend on meeting three-year performance targets - it will not stop the clamour of those attempting to guess the potential amounts in the annual bonus race. What fuels that race, and it is not something which has as much import in the US or other developed countries, is the disconnect I referred to earlier. It is that part of the British psyche which says that those with money are somehow in the wrong. Unlike the US, where capitalism is king and making money is something to be applauded, in the UK anyone who earns slightly more than everyone else tends to be singled out. This strange state of affairs is even more perverse given the amounts earned in the UK are considerably below those in the US, where executives of large banks often earn three or four times more than their British counterparts. In a period of Government cuts and unemployment, it would clearly be foolish to assume that the annual furore over bonuses will disappear any time soon. But to move beyond the yearly media feeding frenzy - which is something many in the banking industry would clearly love - surely the best way would be to focus on delivering strong results and injecting money in to the economy. Scandals such as PPI, interest rate mis-selling and Libor do not help the City's image, and unsurprisingly it is difficult to countenance financial rewards for those involved or connected to such abject failures. Keep a clean copy book, and deliver to customers and shareholders, and the furore may die down. Otherwise, banks should rightly brace themselves for the rollercoaster ride of negative publicity to come.