The US Treasury has announced a new set of guidelines on executive pay for financial institutions that are receiving government assistance. The measures are “designed to ensure that the compensation of top executives in the financial community is closely aligned not only with the interests of shareholders and financial institutions, but with the taxpayers providing assistance to those companies. “

Features in the new rules for companies receiving “exceptional assistance” from the government include a US$500,000 cap on salaries for senior executives (compensation beyond that must be in restricted stock), expanded bans on golden parachutes, and increases to “clawback” provisions.

The US President’s response to the news that “Wall Street had doled out $18 billion in bonuses, even after the government had propped up many of the Street’s most prominent firms”; here.