Pressure builds on U.S. bailout banks to cut bonuses

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By Joseph A. Giannone

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Popular outrage over lavish banker pay that prompted Goldman Sachs and UBS to deny bonuses for top executives may force other banks getting government aid to eliminate year-end bonuses, compensation experts say.

Goldman, expected to report a fourth-quarter loss, said on Sunday that Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein and six others would get no 2008 bonus.

On Monday, UBS unveiled a bonus plan that starting in 2009 will make top executives wait three years before receiving stock-based bonuses and payout cash bonuses over three years, plus impose "malus" penalties if performance diminishes.

Bonuses have been strongly criticized as U.S. taxpayers, suffering the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, question the U.S. Treasury Department's $700 billion bailout of the industry that played a large role in creating the crisis.

"Investors and taxpayers are being hit from all sides, and Wall Street needs to do the right thing when it comes to corporate leadership and responsibility," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Monday. "It's time for the rest of Wall Street to look in the mirror and follow the steps taken by UBS and Goldman Sachs."

California Congressman Henry Waxman and Cuomo are investigating executive pay, adding to pressure on companies like Citigroup and Morgan Stanley .

Waxman and other lawmakers have protested against taxpayers funding lavish Wall Street bonuses.

Earlier in November, the U.S. government invested $125 billion in Goldman, Citigroup and seven other large U.S. banks. Companies receiving funds agreed to restrictions on executive compensation.

"It is very clear other banks will follow, given the political firestorm we're in and given how much money they've already made," said Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at University of Delaware.

Banks worldwide have recorded more than $700 billion in write-downs and credit losses in the past year, and they have cut more than 150,000 jobs. On Monday, Citigroup said it would do away with 52,000 jobs.

Compensation for executives below the very top level is not disclosed, but banks are expected to cut their bonuses by 50 to 70 percent compared with last year.

Goldman, which sustained modest losses in the past year, is expected to pay as much as $13 billion in bonuses this year, down 35 percent from a record $20.2 billion last year. That amounts to an average $420,000 for every banker, analyst and secretary.

Goldman's action will turn up the heat on other banks that might argue they were not part of the problem.

"The general feeling is money from the bailout will be put in investment bankers' pockets, and that's very bad publicity for the industry. No one will want to be accused of that," said Gary Goldstein of Wall Street recruiting firm Whitney Group.

A JPMorgan Chase & Co spokesman declined to comment on compensation. Morgan Stanley, where Chief Executive John Mack turned down a 2007 bonus after a fourth-quarter loss, says it is still discussing compensation and has not made a decision.

"There is tremendous pressure on compensation, in general. While someone could say, 'This isn't my fault,' Lane Berry & Co CEO Frederick Lane said.

"While a rising tide lifts all boats, in a falling tide the boats all sit on the sandy bottom," Lane said.

(Reporting by Joseph Giannone; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

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