US firms paid big bonuses during crisis

24 Jul 2010, 8:18 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Seventeen US financial firms paid $US1.7 billion in "ill-advised" bonuses to top executives at the height of the financial crisis, the country's pay czar says.

Seventeen US financial firms paid $US1.7 billion ($A1.9 billion) in "ill-advised" bonuses to top executives at the height of the financial crisis, President Barack Obama's pay czar said on Friday.

The firms, including top Wall Street banks Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup, made the excessive salary and bonus payments while receiving public bailout money during the October 2008-February 2009 period, said Kenneth Feinberg, the administration's special master for compensation.

The firms did nothing illegal as rules at that time allowed these kinds of payments, but the decision reflects "bad judgement," Feinberg said.

"It was ill-advised. This wasn't illegal," he said. "They violated no" rules but this was "bad judgement," he added.

Among the other firms that made the 'ill-advised" payments were insurance giant AIG, Morgan Stanley, Bank of New York Mellon and Wells Fargo.

Most of the firms cited had already repaid the taxpayers.

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