Barney Frank sees key pay proposal as likely ineffective

One of the two major prongs of the government’s bid to curb executive compensation is unlikely to have a major effect, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Wednesday.

Frank said that the Obama administration’s proposed role for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to provide greater independence for firms’ compensation committees and that the proposed “say on pay” rules were likely to have a greater impact.

“Well, I don’t agree, frankly, that we’re going to get much out of making the compensation committees more independent,” Frank said during an appearance on MSNBC. “I don’t put much stock in it.”

“Frankly, if the boards of directors had been doing their job we wouldn’t be in this situation,” the top Democrat overseeing financial issues explained.

Still, Frank said that Congress and the administration would work to toughen regulations for the financial services industry.