Goldman Bonuses: Collateral Damage
NEW YORK (
) --
Goldman Sachs'
(GS) - Get Report
executives deserve big bonuses, but those at most other banks do not.
That looks to be the message from Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of the mighty vampire squid, judging from comments he made at a banking conference in Frankfurt.
According to a
Bloomberg
report, Blankfein said multi-year contracts should be banned, and "clawbacks" should be instituted to stop executives from taking outsized risks with shareholder capital. No more setting the house on fire and walking away with the loot, in other words.
This is good news for shareholders everywhere, and it won't make much difference to Goldman, which doesn't often make mistakes. Paying its executives heavily in stock, as Blankfein proposes, ought to work out fine for them, as Goldman's stock pretty much only goes up anyway.
It is less good news for executives at Goldman competitors like
Morgan Stanley
(MS) - Get Report
and
JPMorgan Chase
(JPM) - Get Report
, and especially ones like
American International Group
(AIG) - Get Report
and
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
, who have a record of screwing up and are owned largely by taxpayers.
The same can be said for the few legacy
Merrill Lynch
bankers still at
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
. BofA is in trouble with New York Attorney general
, in part for failing to tell shareholders about bonuses paid to the Merrill bankers.
What a selfish guy, that Blankfein, suggesting bankers should actually have to make money for the companies they work for, rather than just for having fancy resumes! Is this the end of capitalism as we know it? Doubtful, but let's hope so.
--
Written by Dan Freed in New York
.
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