from Funds Hub:
Rasmussen gives the bankers both barrels
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen's visits to London are always value for money, and today was no exception as the president of the party of European socialists launched into a tirade against banker bonuses.
"When I listen to you it's like you're living in another world," he told an audience of financial executives and journalists at a Chatham House conference after a number of questions from the floor suggested EU plans for tighter regulation might be counter-productive.
"Have you heard about the recession? Do you know that we have lost 7 million jobs in Europe? Do you know that?
"Do you know that thanks to society you're still sitting here. They are the ones who are bailing out the banks and you're still insisting that you should have your bonuses on taxpayers' money.
"Can you understand the seriousness of people's anger? I don't hear any indication of your understanding of that, and that's a problem for you. Because if you don't listen and if you don't honestly go into a discussion on how to make real regulation but insist that you should not have regulation ... that's not a sustainable point.
"So in your own interests, can I give you good advice? Sit down at the table and start by recognizing that you have had a co-responsibility and a heavy one in the reasons behind the mess we are in right now... It is inevitable for me to say you are going to have regulation."
Swiss regulator cuts UBS bonus pool – report
GENEVA, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Swiss regulators have cut the proposed bonus pool at UBS <UBSN.VX>, which needed a state rescue in 2008, by about one quarter, Swiss weekly Sonntags-Zeitung said on Sunday. (more…)
Obama proposes U.S. bank fee, slams Wall Street
By Caren Bohan and Alister Bull
WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday proposed Wall Street banks pay up to $117 billion to reimburse taxpayers for the financial bailout, as he slammed bankers for their “massive profits and obscene bonuses.”
Striking a populist tone, Obama called for a fee on the biggest U.S banks to “recover every single dime” the government spent rescuing the financial sector from its worst crisis since the Great Depression.
“My determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people,” Obama said, reflecting increasingly harsh rhetoric toward the financial industry.
The White House hopes a tougher line with Wall Street will resonate with an American public furious at multimillion dollar bonuses being handed out by banks as the middle-class struggles with double-digit unemployment.
The fee, which Obama will formally propose in his fiscal year 2011 budget to be released in February, is also aimed at helping to reduce the ballooning U.S. budget deficit.
Obama, who backed the $700 billion financial rescue program begun in the Bush administration, has suffered a backlash over that support. This worries the White House in a year when the president’s Democrats in Congress are seeking re-election.
This is so much “junk”. Why go after the banks?? Because they have the money to pay back, because they are smart enough to work on cash??? What about the bailout to GM, Chrysler, etc. I don’t get it…..
Obama, New York law chief Cuomo target Wall Street bonuses
By Caren Bohan and Jonathan Stempel
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Jan 11 (Reuters) – The White House and and New York’s top prosecutor attacked excessive Wall Street bonuses, as the nation’s biggest banks prepare to hand out awards critics say were made possible by taxpayer bailouts.
A senior U.S. official also confirmed President Barack Obama is considering a fee on financial services firms as part of the fiscal 2011 budget he will unveil in February.
The proposal reflects tougher approach the White House is taking toward Wall Street as it faces rising political heat over its support for the $700 billion financial bailout begun in the Bush administration.
Amid reports of some bank payouts that could average hundreds of thousands of dollars each, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said some Wall Street executives “continue not to get it” when it comes to big bonuses at bailed-out companies.
Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo asked the first eight banks to receive bailout money under the government’s much-maligned Troubled Asset Relief Program to turn over data on expected bonus payouts in 2009.
These banks are Bank of America Corp, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley, State Street Corp and Wells Fargo & Co.
Westlaw Business Analysis: SEC Cracks Down on Holdback of Material Schedules
Westlaw business applies a legal lens to the SEC’s latest moves (more…)
Goldman top executives to take bonuses in stock
By Steve Eder
NEW YORK, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc plans to pay top managers their 2009 bonuses in stock, rather than cash, as it seeks to deflect outrage over a near-record pay haul months after it repaid billions of dollars in taxpayer aid.
The decision to pay top managers in stock that cannot be sold for five years puts Goldman at the forefront of the push to align Wall Street pay with long-term performance. Still, the firm’s total compensation is on pace to top $20 billion this year.
That figure has put Goldman in the crosshairs of an international debate on pay.
“I think Wall Street is well aware of the broad direction they need to move,” said Douglas Elliott, a former JPMorgan investment banker now with the Brookings Institution. “The devil’s in the details.”
Goldman’s plan, announced Thursday, applies to its 30-person management committee, an elite group that includes Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein as well as some of the firm’s most senior risk-takers and managers, including the heads of sales and trading operations.
Those managers will receive all of their discretionary compensation in “shares at risk” — stock that must be held for five years. They will also face a stricter clawback provision that allows the company to recoup pay should employees later be found to have engaged in improper risk-taking.
The disappearing Wall St “bonus,” but in name only
By Karey Wutkowski and Steve Eder WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) – “Bonus” has become a dirty word on Wall Street, prompting image consultants to advise the biggest financial firms to use euphemisms that carry less stigma as the season of lavish payouts approaches. (more…)
U.S. pay czar vows to rework 2010 AIG bonuses
By David Lawder WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Renegotiating bonuses to American International Group employees is a “top priority,” the Obama administration’s pay czar said on Wednesday, adding he believes he can do so without losing key employees.
U.S. slashes pay at seven bailed out firms, cuts cash up to 90 percent
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.
FSA says bank bonuses should take account of govt help
LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Britain’s financial regulator said on Monday banks should consider their wider responsibility to society and “soft” government guarantees that have helped to support them, before deciding on bonus payouts later this year. (more…)
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