Merrill Gave $1 Million To Nearly 700 Staffers

纽约州司法部长库莫(Andrew Cuomo)说，尽管美林(Merrill Lynch & Co.)亏损数十亿美元，但仍“秘密地”把2008年奖金发放日期提前，给了高管丰厚的奖金，向近700名员工每人发放了100万美元甚至更多的奖金。库莫在给众议院金融服务委员会(House Financial Services Committee)主席弗兰克(Barney Frank)的信中说，在1月1日被美国银行(Bank of America Corp.)收购前，美林向3.9万多名员工共发放了36亿美元的奖金，其中有4位高管的奖金超过了1.21亿美元。库莫眼下正着手调查金融公司的薪酬发放。他说，美林董事会去年11月告诉他说，任何奖金的发放都将基于对业绩和留住人才需要的综合考虑。库莫在信中写到：相反，公司的做法惊人地不负责任，看起来美林非但没有按照纽约州司法部的要求以透明的方式公布奖金计划，反而秘密地把计划的奖金发放日期提前，给表现欠佳的高管丰厚的奖励。库莫还说，秘密提前发放奖金的举动以及美国银行明显的共谋……引发了令人不安的严重问题。美国银行发言人斯韦斯利(Scott Silvestri)说，美林的管理层提议发放奖金，并且获得了美林董事会薪酬委员会的批准。斯韦斯利说，美国银行确实曾敦促减少奖金数额，包括最高层的奖金。尽管我们有权向他们提出意见和建议，最终的决策权却在他们手里。此外，美林奖金中有相当一部分是合约规定的。美林前首席执行长塞恩(John Thain)的发言人拒绝置评。塞恩上个月被撵出了合并后的公司。塞恩此前说，奖金的规模现金和股票的比例，以及奖金发放的时间，都是与美国银行一起决定的，并得到美林的薪酬委员会和董事会的批准。双方的合并协议还明确规定，美林要定期发放奖金。由于美林2008年底将不复存在，这就意味着按照定义，奖金必须在年底前发放。这笔自行支配的奖金细节包括在美国银行和美林官方备案合并协议中的非公开附件里。非公开的奖金协议显示，双方同意奖金规模超过58亿美元，其中60%应以现金发放，另外的40%将以股票或是长期现金的形式发放。库莫在有关美林奖金的信中说，他发现美林有696人每人收到了100多万美元的奖金，其中有14人总计收到了2.49亿美元。Chad Bray相关阅读政府强行做媒 美银悔娶美林 2009-02-05美林前高管投资马多夫损失惨重 2009-01-30 本文涉及股票或公司document.write (truthmeter('2009年02月12日14:55', 'BAC'));美国银行英文名称：Bank of America Corp.总部地点：美国上市地点：纽约证交所股票代码：BAC


Merrill Lynch & Co. 'secretly' moved up the date it awarded bonuses for 2008 and richly rewarded its executives despite billions of dollars in losses, giving bonuses of $1 million or more apiece to nearly 700 employees, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said.In a letter to House Financial Service Committee Chairman Barney Frank, (D., Mass.), Mr. Cuomo said the Wall Street firm awarded $3.6 billion in bonuses to more than 39,000 employees before its Jan. 1 purchase by Bank of America Corp., including more than $121 million to four top executives.Mr. Cuomo, who is probing compensation practices at financial firms, said he was told by Merrill's board in November that any bonuses to be paid would be 'based upon a combination of performance and retention needs.''Rather, in a surprising fit of corporate irresponsibility, it appears that, instead of disclosing their bonus plans in a transparent way as requested by my office, Merrill Lynch secretly moved up the planned date to allocate bonuses and then richly rewarded their failed executives,' Mr. Cuomo wrote in his letter.The move to 'secretly and prematurely award' the bonuses and 'Bank of America's apparent complicity . . . raise serious and disturbing questions,' Mr. Cuomo added.Scott Silvestri, a Bank of America spokesman, said Merrill's management proposed the bonuses, which were approved by the compensation committee of Merrill's board.'Bank of America did urge the bonuses be reduced, including those at the high end,' Mr. Silvestri said. 'Although we had a right of consultation, it was their ultimate decision to make. In addition, a substantial amount of the Merrill bonuses were contractually guaranteed.'A spokesman for John Thain, the former Merrill chief executive who was pushed out of the combined company last month, declined to comment.Mr. Thain has previously said that the size of the bonus pool, its mix of cash and stock, and the timing of bonus payments 'were all determined together with Bank of America' and approved by Merrill's compensation committee and board.The merger agreement also specified that Merrill pay regular bonuses. Since the company was going to cease to exist at the end of 2008, that meant, by definition, that the bonuses had to be paid before year's end. Details about the discretionary bonus pool were included in a nonpublic schedule as part of the publicly filed merger agreement between Bank of America and Merrill.The private bonus agreement showed the companies agreed that the bonus pool exceed $5.8 billion and that 60% of it should be awarded in cash and 40% should be awarded in equity or long-term cash.In his review of the bonus payments, Mr. Cuomo said he found that 696 individuals at Merrill received more than $1 million in bonuses, with 14 individuals receiving a combined $249 million.Chad Bray