The gesture could mimic the policy at Bear Stearns, which mandated employees donate 4 percent of their pay to charities before it collapsed, The New York Times reported Monday.
Recently, Goldman Sachs said its 30 highest paid executives would be paid bonuses entirely in restricted stock that could not be cashed in for five years.
The 30 executives account for only a fraction of the big paychecks the bank hands out. In 2008, more than 950 employees were paid more than $1 million each, the Times said.
It is expected for 2009 the bank will pay its employees, on average, $595,000, much of it doled out as bonus pay.
In the first three quarters of 2009, while the repercussions of a financial meltdown and economic downturn swept through the country, Goldman squirreled away $16.7 billion for paychecks. It is expected have record profits for 2009 – about $12 billion, the Times said.
Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Sunday that the return to big paychecks at banks after a massive taxpayer rescue "is going to offend the American people. It offends me."
Copyright 2010 by United Press International.
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