WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The nine largest U.S. banks
receiving $125 billion from the government were asked on
Tuesday to hand over information about their compensation and
bonus plans to a Congressional panel.
Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the U.S. House oversight
committee, sent letters on Tuesday to the banks' chief
executives asking them to provide information about the total
compensation paid or projected to be paid to the 10 highest
paid employees for the last three years.
Waxman, who has publicly blasted other executives for their
lavish pay packages, wants the information broken down by
salaries, bonuses and benefits and a description of the reasons
for the year-to-year changes in the amounts.
Nine major banks, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and
Bank of America, soon will be receiving cash from the Treasury
Department's $700 billion financial services rescue package.
"While I understand the need to pay the salaries of
employees, I question the appropriateness of depleting the
capital that taxpayers just injected into the banks through the
payment of billions of dollars in bonuses...," Waxman, a
Democrat from California, said in the letter.
Waxman's committee also wants information on the number of
employees who were paid, or projected to be paid, more than
$500,000 in total compensation for each year from 2006 to 2008.
The deadline to hand over information is Nov. 10.
Banks participating in the federal cash infusion plan are
subjected to rules that limit executive payouts. However
critics say those rules may not rein in hefty compensation
packages because the language is vague and subject to
government interpretation.
(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai;editing by Carol Bishopric)
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