Fed meets bank executives on pay: Will the sparks fly?

Some people have accused the Fed of bailing out the bankers by pledging $11.2 trillion dollars, only for the bankers to make bigger profits and now are giving out record bonuses. Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE GS), for example, has set aside a whopping $16.7 billion dollars, or 43% of earnings, for compensation and bonuses. The average compensation for each worker is $527,192 dollars.

The bankers went to excess with their greed and speculation and took our economy down. Now, there is an outcry for reform. The Fed last week issued bank pay guidelines aimed at curbing the type of reckless risk taking officials say contributed to the financial crisis and nearly brought our economy to the point of collapse.

The proposal set forth by the Fed includes two key points:

1. For 28 large complex organizations, "the Fed will review each firm's policies and practices to determine the consistency with the principles for risk -- appropriate incentive compensation set forth in the proposal. The policies and implementing practices adopted by these firms in response to the final supervisory principles will become part of the supervisory expectations for each firm and will be monitored for compliance."
2. "Supervisors will review compensation practices at regional, community and other banking organizations not classified as large and complex as part of the regular risk focused examination process. These reviews will be tailored to take account of the size, complexity, and other characteristics of the banking organization."

Bernanke stated: "Compensation practices at some banking organizations have led to misaligned incentives and excessive risk taking, contributing to bank losses and financial instability. ... The Federal Reserve is working to ensure that compensation appropriately be rewards to longer term performance and do not create undue risk to the firm or the financial system."

At this point, the guidelines are a bit of nice rhetoric. We'll need to stand by for some hard numbers on bank pay and bonuses so see if the Fed means business or is just papering over this whole issue.

Do you believe that any real changes will take place on bank pay and bonuses?