Pay Czar Slashes Top Salaries at 7 Bailed-Out Firms

(NEWSER) - Just because top banking executives took home hefty paychecks in recent months doesn't mean they'll get to keep the money, reports Reuters. White House pay czar Kenneth Feinberg declared he has clear authority to "claw back" egregious bonuses already paid out by any bank that received federal TARP money. More»

Feinberg beefs up base base to help firms retain talent

(NEWSER) - Base pay will increase for the majority of top execs in the finance and auto firms supervised by federal pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. Salaries are being bumped up—by hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases—as bonuses and other perks are slashed. Despite the salary hikes, all 136 execs at the seven firms overseen by Feinberg will end up making much less than last year. 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»

Warren confirms cuts to 25 top earners at 7 companies

(AP) - The Treasury Department today is expected to order seven companies that have not paid back last year's US government bailouts to halve their top executives' average compensation. The cuts apply to the 25 highest-paid executives at banks and other companies that received the most assistance, with salaries being slashed by as much as 90%. The move, reported last night, is "real," TARP overseer Elizabeth Warren confirmed to CBS this morning. More»

Expected costs down from $250B to $89B in past year

(NEWSER) - The financial bailout is looking a lot less expensive these days: At a projected $250 billion just a year ago, the expected federal bailout tab is now down to $89 billion—less than the government paid for the savings-and-loan crisis 20 years ago. The falling bailout costs come thanks to fast stabilization of markets, which has let companies pay back the government sooner than expected. More»