BofA Boss Reluctantly Bags Bonuses

Wells Fargo, Bank of America may have reason to worry

(NEWSER) - Now that shareholders have rejected Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit's $15 million pay package, all eyes are on Wells Fargo and Bank of America, both of which are holding their own "say on pay" votes in the coming weeks. The votes are required as part of post-financial crisis financial reform laws, and though negative votes have been cast before, Citigroup marks the first big bank to suffer one. "If it can happen at Citigroup it can happen anywhere, particularly at other big financial firms," an AFL-CIO director tells the Los Angeles Times . More»

Haul breaks mark set in pre-bust 2007

(NEWSER) - Employees at the major US banks were paid about $145 billion in 2009—a total that, despite the financial crisis and public outcry over compensation in the industry—breaks a record set in pre-bust 2007. A Wall Street Journal analysis finds that 2009 revenue will be $450 billion, up 25% from ’07; pay should be about 32% of revenue, down from 40% in ’08. More»

Compensation limits have prompted swift TARP repayment

(NEWSER) - A common complaint about the TARP bailouts was that by injecting capital and making the financial environment more friendly, the government wasn't doing enough to push the banks into real reform. Why wouldn't the banks simply live off TARP cash as long as they could? Yet those concerns were unfounded, writes Daniel Gross, because it turned out the government did have an effective motivator: limits on compensation. More»

(NEWSER) - The judge who has refused to sign off on Bank of America's settlement with the SEC over $3.6 billion in bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch delivered a stinging rebuke to both parties in a hearing yesterday, the New York Times reports. The firms "effectively lied to their shareholders" over the pre-merger bonuses, and the SEC's proposed $33 million settlement seems "strangely askew," said Judge Jed Rakoff. More»

Firms paid more than they made: Cuomo

(NEWSER) - The financial crisis and government bailouts did little to change Wall Street’s executive compensation habits, New York's attorney general says. All nine banks given assistance by TARP paid out bonuses in 2008—well before any paid back government loans, according to a survey ordered by Andrew Cuomo. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase actually paid more in bonuses than the firms made for the year, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»