The U.S. Treasury's pay czar, who oversees compensation for the highest-paid employees at the firms that received U.S. taxpayer assistance, said on Thursday that he is concerned that pay cuts could obstruct the ability of these firms to retain and attract top talent. However, the pay czar would be open to requests to hire new executives at competitive industry rates. The pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, decides compensation packages for the highest-paid employees at the seven firms that have received substantial support from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The pay restrictions were imposed on these firms to enable them to repay government money by controlling excessive pay. The seven firms, whose top 25 earners received an average 50% lower pay last month by the order of the pay czar, are American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), Chrysler Financial, Chrysler Group ...

American International Group Inc. (AIG) said on Friday that it is paying $12.1 million in retention awards to some of its top executives. The company took this decision after it got approval from U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, who is scrutinizing the pay practices of the seven companies including AIG that received the biggest federal aid.   Chief Financial Officer David Herzog received $1 million and Kristian Moor, Chief Executive of AIG's property-casualty division, received $1.6 million. Jay Wintrob, CEO of AIG's domestic life and retirement services also received a payment. The payments were promised in 2008 to retain key employees.   Previously, U.S. Treasury Department pressed AIG to reduce $198 million in scheduled retention payments after the government missed the opportunity to defend against controversial bonuses paid to AIG employees last year.  However, AIG is currently trying to repay $85 billion it had borrowed from the ...

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform panel said on Wednesday that Congress will soon investigate executive compensation at companies that received significant amount of taxpayer funds. The U.S. Treasury's pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg is in charge of deciding compensation packages for the highest-paid employees at all the firms that received bailout money. For seven firms, the situation is critical as these firms received substantial support from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The seven firms whose compensation plans will be scrutinized are American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), Chrysler Financial, Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors and GMAC Inc (GJM). The U.S. Treasury Department is pressing bailed out insurer AIG to reduce $198 million in scheduled retention payments after the government missed the opportunity to defend against controversial bonuses to AIG employees last year. However, AIG ...

In the course of the review of the aptness of the richest pay packages proposed by seven financial firms that received $200 billion in government aid, the U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is planning to cut the annual cash salaries for many of the top executives whose firms accepted bailout funds. As an alternative to paying large cash salaries, the pay czar is planning to shift a large portion of an employee's annual salary to stock that cannot be accessed for several years. The percentage of salary to be diverted to stock is not yet clear, but it could be above 50% in some cases. The stock compensation would be in addition to salaries and cash bonuses. This will be an incentive for the executive to make good long-term decisions about the company. By mid-October this year, Feinberg expects to issue his judgment on compensation packages ...