The Obama administration's "pay czar" who reduced pay for executives at seven major corporations says his powers should not extend to the rest of the financial sector. But he says the standards he used should guide the broader marketplace.
Kenneth Feinberg told a House Committee Wednesday that his authority should not extend beyond the seven big companies that haven't repaid government bailout money. Feinberg ordered cutting top executive compensation in half.
He also said he rejected compensation plans by six of the seven companies because they did not meet the public interest. The House earlier this year adopted a ban on risky compensation that would apply to any firm with more than $1 billion in assets.
But Feinberg increased base salaries at the seven companies, the Wall Street Journal said, citing its own analysis of U.S. Treasury data.
Base salaries at the companies on average rose 14 percent to $437,896 a year, the paper said, adding that 89 of the 136 employees under the U.S. pay czar's review got a raise in base salary.
Read the Text of Feinberg's Testimony (PDF)
The paper added that Feinberg agreed to more than double cash salaries for 13 of 21 Citigroup employees.
Government officials told the paper they agreed to increase some base salaries in the wake of some companies expressing concern that the pay czar was planning to lock up too much employees' compensation for the long term.
Last week, Feinberg slashed overall pay by more than half for top earners at seven companies that received massive taxpayer bailouts, and ordered that most of their salaries be paid in the form of long-term company stock.
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