President Barack Obama set a $500,000 annual pay cap on Wednesday for executives at companies getting taxpayer bailouts as part of a wider process to clamp down on excessive corporate pay.
The new rules would require banks and other companies that get government funds in the future to abide by the new cap going forward, with any additional compensation being limited to restricted stock that does not vest until government funds are paid back.
The following are comments from the market on the new plan. Add your own view in the comments section.
BRADY DOUGAN, CREDIT SUISSE CEO
“The industry will need to find a balance. There have clearly been excesses. Clearly, a lot of performance issues in 2008. Clearly, it is natural that compensation should be down a lot.
“But in the long run, we are still going to need to find a balance between making sure we have appropriate shareholder returns, making sure also that there are some incentives and some ability to build wealth for people who work in the business.
