Banker Pay Targeted by Cuomo

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Citigroup(C), Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Goldman Sachs (GS) are among the banks that will be receiving letters the New York State Attorney General's office requesting information about their bonus packages and related compensation structures.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is looking to dig deeper into how these banks, along with Bank of New York Mellon (BK), Morgan Stanley (MS), State Street (STT) and Wells Fargo (WFC), are structuring their bonus pools and distribution information for 2009.

According to the letters - similar copies of which were sent to each of the banks - Cuomo has asked the institutions to provide information regarding the breakdown of cash, stock and other incentives, vesting periods, clawback provisions and "any other provisions to tie compensation to performance and/or the long-term health of your firm, as well as a description of how the 2009 bonus structures differ from 2008," an example of the letters reads. Of particular interest is how the banks believe compensation would have been impacted if they had not received funding from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

"As we informed your firm last year, when you received TARP funding, your firm took on a new responsibility to taxpayers," one of the letters states. "While your firm has now paid the TARP money back, it is not clear that your firm would have been in the same position now had you not received that TARP money. Accordingly, we also ask that the Board inform us of the policies, procedures, and protections the Board has instituted that will ensure Board review of all such company expenditures going forward."