Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Escape Clause Seen for Goldman and the S.E.C.
June 1, 2010, 2:00 pm

Is there a way for Goldman Sachs and the Securities and Exchange Commission to reach a compromise on settling securities fraud charges against the firm? John Carney of CNBC.com thinks there is, and he believes Goldman and the S.E.C. may both be able to claim victory in their legal fight.

Goldman might accept a settlement if the civil charges requiring fraudulent intent or claiming a scheme that operated as fraud were dropped, a source said. That would leave open the charge of merely negligently “misleading” the investors in the Abacus deal.

Top Nomura Execs See Their Pay Triple
June 2, 2010, 6:57 am

Nomura Holdings, Japan’s biggest securities firm, more than tripled pay to top managers last fiscal year as it returned to profit from a record loss, according to a financial report sent to shareholders, Bloomberg News reported.

Chief Executive Officer Kenichi Watanabe and his executive team received average compensation of 145 million yen ($1.6 million) for the 12 months ended March 31, up from 41.5 million yen a year earlier, according to the report, which was also posted on the Tokyo-based company’s Web site Wednesday.

Morgan Stanley is the latest culprit. The investment bank chose Friday, the eve of a holiday weekend, to dribble out that it was more than doubling, to $2 million, the annual base salary of its chairman, John J. Mack. The figure keeps with Morgan Stanley’s plan to construct a more balanced pay package that relies less on annual bonuses