Loopholes Evident In Pay To Tenn. Bank Executives

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Nashville area's largest banks are continuing in some cases to give bonuses, generous severance payments and pay raises to some executives.

The Tennessean reported Sunday that four of the five CEOs of Nashville's five largest banks received no bonus for 2008, though some other executives did get payouts.

For instance, a filing earlier this month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Financial Corp. paid G. Douglas Edwards $8.6 million in severance payments.

Edwards retired last year as president and CEO of Regions' investment bank, Morgan Keegan in Memphis.

Congress passed a law prohibiting bonuses for banks receiving government money, but that didn't apply to contracts written before Feb. 11, said John Cornell, an executive compensation attorney in New York for Jones Day.

Regions is defending itself against several lawsuits brought in 2007 and 2008 by investors who say Morgan Keegan violated securities laws by failing to disclose it was investing their money in subprime mortgages and risky debt.