Reining in Excessive CEO Pay
Fat cat compensation should play no role in responsible corporate performance at taxpayer-guaranteed banks. Prior to the financial crisis, the CEOs of the giant financial institutions that drove our economy off a cliff received exorbitant compensation packages. Corporate officers should be paid for long-term performance, not short-term illusions. Managers of financial firms receiving federal support should be accountable to taxpayers as well as shareholders.
To rein in excessive CEO pay and restore accountability, Public Citizen supports the following reforms:
- Withhold bonuses for five years to ensure that the gains from any year will be stable.
- Claw back bonuses from results that are later found to be illusory.
- End the taxpayer subsidy for pay above $1 million (as a current loophole allows corporations to do for CEO bonus pay).
- Empower shareholders by giving them a binding vote on executive pay packages.
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More Resources on Executive Compensation
- Press Release: Trump’s Reg Czar: Corporate Gatekeeper?, April 7, 2017
- Blog: Incompetent Corporate Managers, Raise your Hands, February 27, 2017
- Press Release: Court Decision Gives Hope That CFPB Will Remain Independent, February 16, 2017
- Comment: SEC Reforming Banker Pay Structure, July 22, 2016
- Press Coverage: If bank investors are angry they’re not showing it, May 18, 2016
- Press Coverage: About One-Third of Citigroup Shareholders Rebuke Bank on Pay, April 26, 2016
- Press Coverage: Proposal at JPMorgan and Citigroup Raises Prospect of Split-Up, March 16, 2016
- Press Coverage: Wall Street bonus tumbles to $146,200 after dismal year for the financial sector, March 8, 2016
- Press Release: Public Citizen Applauds U.S. House Call for CEO Pay Disclosure Rule, March 17, 2015
- Press Release: Public Citizen Applauds Van Hollen’s CEO Tax Subsidy Reform, January 28, 2015
- Press Release: Despite State Budget Problems, Weak Economy, Wall Street Execs Reward Themselves Handsomely, February 23, 2011
- Fact Sheet: Executive Compensation: Taking Stock (PDF), February 8, 2011
- Press Release: SEC Executive Pay Rules Are a Key Step, January 25, 2011
- Press Release: ‘Pay Czar’ Kenneth Feinberg Releases Final Executive Compensation Report on Bailed-Out Banks, July 23, 2010
- Press Release: CEOs Who Steered Economy Off a Cliff Received $28.9 Million Average Annual Salary, New Public Citizen Report Shows, December 14, 2009