Financial Regulatory Forum

By Karey Wutkowski and Steve Eder

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. pay czar on Friday expanded a crackdown on pay packages at four companies rescued with taxpayer money, limiting most cash salaries at $500,000 for a second tier of top earners.

The Treasury Department’s Kenneth Feinberg issued the new limits amid outcries from some companies on a government lifeline that they cannot retain or attract key employees, sending the firms racing for a bailout exit.

He set the compensation structures for the 26th through 100th highest-paid employees at four firms: Citigroup Inc, American International Group, General Motors Co, and GMAC.

Chrysler and Chrysler Financial were exempted during this round of rulings because total pay for their second-tier executives is already under $500,000.

Feinberg, a Washington lawyer appointed by President Barack Obama in June after public anger exploded over high pay at bailout firms, said he granted less than a dozen special exemptions from the cash salary cap.

By David Lawder and Emily Kaiser
WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defended on Thursday the costly bailout of AIG and urged swift regulatory reform to safeguard the economy from the failure of big financial firms.
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   By Kevin Drawbaugh
WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) – The Obama administration within days will move to get tougher with large financial firms that are in trouble by urging Congress to let the government seize control, wipe out shareholders, boot management and restructure debts, an administration official said on Monday.

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By Karey Wutkowski
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) – U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg emphasized on Friday his ability to claw back pay at any company receiving a taxpayer bailout, but said such an extreme action “will be rare and far between.”

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   WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury’s pay czar on Thursday slashed overall pay by more than half for top earners at seven companies that received massive taxpayer bailouts, and ordered that most of their salaries be paid in the form of long-term company stock. Kenneth Feinberg, charged with approving or renegotiating pay contracts for the 25 highest-paid employees at the seven banks and automakers, said their cash compensation for 2009 would drop by more than 90 percent compared to 2008.

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By Lilla Zuill and Grant McCool
WESTPORT, Conn./NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Joseph Cassano has come home to face the music.
The former AIG executive closely associated with one of the most sensational collapses in corporate history, recently slipped back into the United States.

Under intensifying investigations by the FBI and other agencies, the 54-year-old Cassano had until recently been living in London.

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By Steve Eder
NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s “pay czar” said on Friday he was using formulas and data analysis to determine executive compensation at government-rescued firms, rather than relying on pay caps.

Kenneth Feinberg, appointed in June to decide compensation packages for the highest-paid personnel at companies that received U.S. government bailouts, said his team of 15 people is reviewing pay data submitted by seven firms that needed extraordinary assistance, a group that includes Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp, and American International Group Inc . (more…)

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) – Insurer American International Group Inc’s once-desperate financial state has started to stabilize, a government agency said on Monday, as an influential lawmaker said he would look at easing the terms of the insurer’s federal bailout once more.

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By Adam Tanner

DUBROVNIK, Croatia (Reuters) – Wearing flip-flops, khaki shorts and a green polo shirt, the new chief executive of bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc says he’s getting a lot of work done from his massive villa overlooking the Adriatic.

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WASHINGTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Following are highlights from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s prepared speech to be delivered at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank’s conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

BERNANKE ON CURRENT STATE OF ECONOMY
“After contracting sharply over the past year, economic activity appears to be leveling out, both in the United States and abroad, and the prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good. … The economic recovery is likely to be relatively slow at first, with unemployment declining only gradually from high levels.”
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