WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department
said on Friday that compensation for the chief executives of the
final three firms that got “exceptional” bailout assistance
during the financial crisis has been frozen for the second year
in a row.
The ruling applies to the chief executives of AIG,
General Motors and Ally Financial, each of which
received big taxpayer-financed bailouts that they have not yet
fully repaid.
The government pumped $68 billion into AIG from the Troubled
Asset Relief Program and invested $50 billion in GM and $17
billion in Ally Financial to save them from collapse during the
2007-2009 crisis.
The Treasury also said total direct compensation during 2012
for 69 other senior executives at the three firms was being cut
by 10 percent from 2011 levels.
The three were part of group of seven firms that got
so-called exceptional assistance in the form of taxpayers’ money
during the financial crisis. Four of the original seven — Bank
of America, Citigroup, Chrysler Financial and Chrysler — have
already repaid their TARP money and left the program.
Public anger over high pay and huge bonuses at bailed-out
firms was so high that the Obama administration created a
“special master’s office’ to monitor pay practices.
The Treasury report on Friday does not name any of the
executives but it is evident the three CEOs still will get pay
packets that put them among the elite of American income
earners.
The top executive at AIG will receive total direct
compensation, which includes cash, stock and future stock
options worth $10.5 million, while Ally Financial’ s leader will
get $9.5 million and GM’s chief executive $9 million, according
to documents distributed by the Treasury.
