Generally banks are not doing very well globally. Although Barclays & DB are not specifically in a bad shape, they are nonetheless cost cutting like mad like the whole industry.

What this means is that increment and bonus for the next few years are going to be very low, so you need to factor in as your 15% increase in base @ 75k could be offset by low bonuses in the future.

There is no such thing as a retrenchment point. Sometimes the lower grunts get it, sometimes the MD/SVPs get it. Depends on the situation, no such thing as hiding at some level is safe. It is the nature of banks to conduct frequent termination/pay freeze/zero bonus to control headcount cost.