JPMorgan employees could see lower bonuses than in 2009
Criticism was particularly harsh when some firms that received funds from Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2008 still provided millions in bonuses to their top executives.
More than 70 percent said big bonuses should be banned this year at Wall Street firms that took taxpayer bailouts, according to a December poll by Bloomberg.
An additional one in six favors a 50 percent tax on bonuses exceeding $400,000. Just 7 percent of U.S. adults asked in the poll say bonuses are an appropriate incentive reflecting Wall Street’s return to financial health, the poll said.
In early December, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) criticized the amount of Wall Street bonuses as lawmakers and the White House agreed to provide a two-year extension of all Bush-era tax cuts.
“Almost $90 billion in bonuses on Wall Street after all that they have put us through,” she said. “Not all of them, but some of them. $90 billion, billion with a ‘b’ dollars, in bonuses. And under what the Republicans want to do, they want a tax break for that.”
Meanwhile, Credit Suisse Group said Monday it’s changing how bonuses are doled out as banks come under growing government involvement.
The Zurich-based bank’s cash bonuses will be paid out over four years with the changes “designed to ensure adequate consideration of risk in compensation decisions and to better align the interests of employees with the long-term success of the bank,” Credit Suisse said in a statement.
