Executive pay limits advance in U.S. Congress

by Kevin Drawbaugh for Reuters, July 31, 2009.

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) – Eye-popping Wall Street bonuses could be banned by the U.S. government if pay packages are deemed to encourage “inappropriate risks,” under a bill approved on Friday by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill would allow regulators to prohibit incentive-based pay packages at large financial institutions if the packages are found to induce excessive risk-taking. Institutions with assets of less than $1 billion would be exempted.

The bill would also give shareholders in public companies the right to cast annual, nonbinding votes on executive pay, offering them a louder, if largely symbolic “say on pay.”…(read the complete article)