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Bank Executive Compensation: Payback

Bankers’ pay is a complex subject that arouses simple emotions.

November 21, 2008

"The villagers are at the gates of the castle with burning torches," says one compensation consultant. The sheer amount that bankers are paid riles people at the best of times. When the economy is ravaged and the source of the trouble is banks themselves, the pitchforks come out. Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are gleefully grilling bankers on pay. New York state's attorney-general has reportedly issued a subpoena to Bank of America demanding data on its most well-rewarded employees. A penitent Peter Wuffli, ousted as UBS's chief executive in July 2007, has returned SFr12m ($10m) in bonus entitlements to the Swiss bank. Read more...

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