Bloomberg offers some interesting metrics regarding the always interesting Goldman Sachs vs. Morgan Stanley battle. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) allocated nearly $8 billion to pay salaries and bonuses and other compensation in the first half of the year, up from $5.78 billion a year earlier. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs's (NYSE: GS) first-half compensation dropped to $9.3 billion from $11.4 billion.

But even with the increase, Morgan Stanley's set-aside as a percent of revenue fell to 47 percent, excluding the U.K. bonus tax, compared with 71 percent a year earlier. Goldman Sachs's ratio was 43 percent, compared with 49 percent a year earlier.

Regarding the headcount, Goldman hired 2,900 employees in the last year, helping average pay per employee to fall to $272,581 in the first half from $364,135 a year earlier. Morgan Stanley's per-capita pay climbed to $126,244 from $94,465 a year earlier. Both appear to be hiring aggressively.

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