The US pay czar on Friday expanded a crackdown on pay packages at four companies rescued with taxpayer money, limiting most cash salaries at US$500,000 for a second tier of top earners.
The US Treasury Department’s Kenneth Feinberg issued the new limits amid outcries from some companies on a government lifeline that they cannot retain or attract key employees, sending the firms racing for a bailout exit.
He set the compensation structures for the 26th through 100th highest-paid employees at four firms: Citigroup Inc, American International Group Inc, General Motors Co and GMAC.
Chrysler and Chrysler Financial were exempted during this round of rulings because total pay for their second-tier executives is already under US$500,000.
Feinberg, a Washington lawyer appointed by US President Barack Obama in June after public anger exploded over high pay at bailout firms, said he granted less than a dozen special exemptions from the cash salary cap.
“In a very few cases, we did recognize there was an individual who, based on company input, was deemed to be truly essential,” he told reporters.
Those exempted from the new pay caps included several at insurer AIG. The exempted executives were not identified and generally were allowed cash pay up to US$950,000, although one was granted US$1.5 million, he said.
Feinberg, in his latest rulings, also targeted bonus pay.
He insisted that incentive pay be limited to a “fixed pool” of funds to be negotiated with Feinberg, which would require companies to carefully choose who to reward.
“There cannot be runaway bonuses,” Feinberg said.
All incentive pay can be clawed back if results prove illusory.
When asked by reporters about GM, which is scrambling to find a new chief executive who can retool the giant automaker, Feinberg indicated the firm may get a break. He said he was willing to take a “fresh look” at proposed pay for GM’s new CEO, adding it was “vital” that GM, majority owned by the government, be competitive.
The UK this week slapped a 50 percent tax on bank bonuses and France is considering a similar move. On Thursday, Goldman Sachs — which already repaid its bailout funds — announced its top executives will not receive cash bonuses for this year.
Feinberg lauded Goldman’s compensation changes, which also mandated that managers receive all discretionary pay in stock that must be held for five years and is subject to a clawback provision.
“That is precisely the type of impact that we at Treasury and the administration are hoping to have,” he said.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
RSS