Wall St Shudders As Lawmakers Take Aim At Pay

美国金融业管理人士周四仓皇应对一项可能颠覆华尔街目前薪酬体系的法案。公众对华尔街奖金的暴怒程度令许多银行管理人士始料未及，更令他们措手不及的是美国众议院通过了一项法案，要求对接受50亿美元以上联邦救助资金的金融公司高管奖金征税90%。考虑到这项措施，目前没有哪家经纪行或银行愿意顶风作案。据一位知情人士透露，一个金融业组织美国证券业及金融市场协会(Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association)正在就这项法案的合法性咨询一位宪法专家。但该机构也选择了沉默，没有发表声明。许多公司已经削减了高管奖金，国会要求接受政府资金的公司削减薪酬的压力发挥了一定作用。但这项法案还对交易员银行家的薪酬作出了严格限制，带来数百万美元收入的经纪商可能也会受到影响。纽约薪酬顾问约翰逊(Alan Johnson)说，这不是省钱的问题，这是在复仇。美国民众怒火中烧，国会害怕无法获得连任。但这是可耻的。这项法案会导致最出色的人才流失，令金融公司更加难以维持，最终付出代价的还是美国纳税人。薪酬专家说，这项法案的涉及范围是年薪25万美元以上的银行管理人士，而年薪超过这一水平的银行职员数以千计。业内人士说，如果这项法案正式生效，那么可能会加速美国银行业的人才流失速度，大批银行人士和交易员将投向外国公司对冲基金和小型专门公司。猎头公司Korn/Ferry International董事总经理加里诺(Alan Guarino)说，法案对某些接受联邦资金救助的企业提出了制约，而对任何不受此约束的大型公司来说，这项法案给它们带来了不公平的优势。不过，一家大型银行周四认为，这项法案的影响范围可能会显著缩小，最终只适用于美国国际集团(AIG)，或者是那些根据问题资产救助计划(TARP)接受最初救助之后又得到更多政府资金的金融公司。Aaron Lucchetti and Peter Lattman相关阅读美国会通过法案授权司法部收回AIG所发奖金 2009-03-19AIG部分员工将返还奖金 2009-03-19奥巴马：我将对AIG奖金事件承担责任 2009-03-19原声视频：AIG主管接受议员质询 2009-03-19AIG若破产对高盛意味着什么？ 2009-03-18


Finance executives scrambled Thursday to react to a bill that would gut the current Wall Street compensation system.Many bank officials were caught off-guard by the depth of public ire against Wall Street bonuses, and the passage of a bill by the House that would tax many of those bonuses by 90% at firms that received at least $5 billion in federal bailout funds. No brokerage firms or banks were immediately willing to go on the record with a view on the measure.A leading finance group, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, was in consultation with a constitutional-law expert about the bill's legality, according to a person familiar with the matter. But it, too, chose not to make a statement.Many firms have already cut the bonuses of top executives, in part to mollify lawmakers demanding cuts in pay for companies that take government money. But the current bill would also severely restrict the pay of traders, bankers and possibly brokers who produce millions of dollars in revenue.'This is about vengeance, not about saving money,' said Alan Johnson, a New York compensation consultant. 'The American people are furious, and Congress is terrified they won't get re-elected. But it's a shame. The best people will leave and the American taxpayer will pay' because the bill would make the firms more 'unstable.'Banks have thousands of employees who make more than $250,000 per household, the level at which the tax would take effect, pay experts say.If the bill becomes law, the flow of bankers and traders from U.S. banks to foreign firms, hedge funds and smaller boutique companies could accelerate, said people in the industry. The bill 'creates an unfair advantage for any major player who is not subject' to the restrictions imposed on companies receiving federal funds, said Alan Guarino, a managing director at recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International.Still, the feeling at one major bank Thursday was that the legislation would get significantly watered down, making it applicable only to AIG, or, perhaps, firms that have received more government assistance than just the initial handouts made under the TARP program.Aaron Lucchetti and Peter Lattman