Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LLCF who wrote (234176)	2/2/2010 9:37:00 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 306849

Bank of America Said to Pay Bankers Average Bonus of $400,000 By David Mildenberg Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., the nation’s largest lender, will pay investment-banking employees bonuses of about $4.4 billion for last year, or an average of $400,000 each, a person close to the bank said. As much as 95 percent will be paid in stock vesting over about three years, the person said. Those receiving the smallest bonuses will get about half their compensation in cash, paid later this month, the person said. The unit accounts for 10,000 people, or 4 percent of the bank’s 283,000 workers. Bank of America, the target of political wrath for its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. even as the faltering Wall Street firm handed out $3.6 billion of employee bonuses, reaped a $6.3 billion profit in 2009. This year’s investment bank bonuses are a third less than $6.5 billion that the combined units would have paid in the peak year of 2006, the person said, citing internal Bank of America calculations. “Those numbers sound like the kind of numbers we’d expect to be hearing from Wall Street firms,” said Steven Hall, managing director of New York-based Steven Hall & Partners, an executive compensation consulting firm. The Financial Times cited unidentified people as saying that top Bank of America performers in global banking and markets will receive bonuses of about $5 million, while managing directors will get $2.5 million to $3 million. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan “We attempted to balance the need to pay competitively with our understanding of the general concern over the level of compensation on Wall Street,” spokesman Robert Stickler said. “The most important thing is that much more of year-end compensation is now deferred and tied to long-term stock performance and there are clawbacks.” Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s investment bank slashed their compensation in the fourth quarter. The three firms set aside $39.9 billion for pay in 2009, below the 2007 record of $44.7 billion. The total fell short of the $46.1 billion five analysts expected this year and is almost $10 billion less than what some analysts estimated in October. JPMorgan’s investment bank had the lowest ratio of the three of total pay to revenue, at 33 percent. Goldman Sachs’s rate was 36 percent and it was 62 percent at Morgan Stanley. Bank of America’s bonus figures equate to about 19 percent of the investment bank’s $23 billion in revenue. Moynihan’s Salary Bumped At Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, the bonuses equate to 19 percent of revenue at the investment bank. That ratio would have been 26 percent in 2006, the person briefed on the matter said. Separately, Bank of America said in a regulatory filing that it raised the base salary of new Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan to $950,000 this year from $800,000 in 2009. The bank also boosted the salaries of Joe Price, head of consumer, small business and card banking, and Barbara Desoer, head of home loans and insurance, to $800,000 from $500,000. Details on the executives’ 2009 compensation will be reported in the bank’s annual proxy statements. Twenty-eight Bank of America employees and 149 Merrill employees received bonuses of at least $3 million for 2008, according to a report last year by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Those 149 Merrill employees received a combined $858 million, an average of $5.8 million, the report said. Bank of America in December repaid $45 billion in federal bank-rescue aid, freeing the company from restrictions on compensation. To contact the reporter on this story: David Mildenberg in Charlotte at dmildenberg@bloomberg.net Last Updated: February 2, 2010 20:11 EST

To: LLCF who wrote (234176)	2/6/2010 4:03:19 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Madoff’s Sons Accept Asset Freeze in Agreement With Trustee By Linda Sandler Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Andrew and Mark Madoff, whose father Bernard is serving 150 years in prison for the largest-ever Ponzi scheme, agreed to restrict movement of their own personal assets, not incur debt beyond $1,000 and give a monthly accounting of their expenses. Peter and Shana Madoff Swanson, Bernard’s brother and niece, signed similar agreements with the trustee liquidating the con man’s estate, Irving Picard, according to documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Picard, who is unwinding Madoff’s defunct investment firm and gathering assets to help pay customers, sued the four Madoff family members in October, claiming they spent almost $199 million of victims’ money and treated the investment firm as their personal bank. The Madoffs said in court papers that they deny Picard’s allegations and dispute his right to restrict their assets. They are consenting to the asset freeze to avoid “the potential costs and expenses of the instant dispute,” which could prove “substantial,” according to the filings. The asset restrictions prevent the Madoffs and their representatives from selling, leveraging, wasting or moving all their property that is worth more than $1,000, “except for wearing personal clothing and jewelry in the normal course.” They must also take “reasonable” steps to preserve the value of their possessions, according to the filings. 30 Days They also agreed to disclose their finances to Picard within 30 days. Their monthly accounting of expenses requires them to document all items costing more than $500. Peter Madoff was chief compliance officer at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Andrew and Mark were co- directors of trading and Shana was compliance director, according to Picard. Picard and his spokesman, Kevin McCue, didn’t return voice- mail messages seeking comment yesterday. Martin Flumenbaum, a lawyer for Madoff’s sons, and John Wing, a lawyer for Peter Madoff, also didn’t return calls. Mark Smith, Shana Swanson’s lawyer, said he couldn’t immediately comment. To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: February 6, 2010 00:01 EST