House committee votes to rein-in ‘high-risk’ bank pay plans
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The House Financial Services Committee today approved a bill giving U.S. regulators the ability to ban pay arrangements at financial companies that would encourage ‘inappropriate’ risk-taking.
The bill also would give shareholders of every U.S. company a chance to cast a vote each year on the salary and bonuses paid to their executives. But such ‘say-on-pay’ votes would be strictly advisory, and companies could choose to ignore them -- as many have in recent years when such votes have been forced onto proxy ballots.
The House committee, chaired by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), passed the bill by a 40-28 vote. It goes to the full House for vote on Friday.
Critics have lambasted the financial industry for setting salary and bonus plans that have encouraged managers, traders and other players to emphasize short-term performance, even if that has meant taking outsized risks.
The government stayed out of it -- until the financial system nearly collapsed and taxpayers’ money had to be used to shore up hundreds of firms.
Still, exactly how banking regulators and the Securities and Exchange Commission would judge when a play plan could fuel ‘inappropriate’ risk-taking is the devil in the details.
The Frank bill goes further than what the Obama administration has supported in terms of pay restrictions, so its future isn’t clear. But as the Associated Press noted:
Lawmakers, including Republicans who opposed the proposal because they said it went too far, said they were under tremendous pressure from constituents. ‘Politically, it was very difficult for my members to stand up and fight this legislation,’ said Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee.
The latest earnings reports from Wall Street were no help to opponents of the bill. Goldman Sach Group reported record second-quarter results -- after boosting its risk-taking in the markets. The firm also said it set aside the equivalent of $386,000 per employee for pay and benefits in the first half.
-- Tom Petruno