But do not expect an excessi e se erity o U

Wall Street bonuses are now under sur eillance. But do not expect an excessi e se erity o U.S. regulators. In the a termath o the publication o the decisions o the "pay czar", Ken einberg, and recommendations o the ederal Reser e ("Les Echos" rom October 23), inancial irms are beginning to their accounts. I the regime imposed on assisted groups (Citigroup, Bank o America, AIG) seems a priori se ere (reduction o 50 o a erage pay and reduction o 90 o the component in cash), the recommendations o the ed 28 major inancial institutions - still subject to a consultation period o 30 days - are compared to those o the g-20.

"Some banking institutions pay practices led to inappropriate incenti es and outlets o excessi e risk that contributed to bank losses and inancial instability," certainly recognized the ed Chairman, Ben Bernanke. By publishing, October 22, its own "guidance applicable to banks pay", the Central Bank thus wanted ahead Congress initiati es, without lea ing the monopoly o the control o the bonus to Treasury and its "Mr. remuneration", which the de ice regarding se en assisted companies is intended to "make decisions". "It is a good thing", welcomed the President o the Committee on inancial ser ices, Barney rank, pilot re orm o the inancial regulation. But some experts note that preliminary control o the ed will be con idential and that enacted principles remain signi icantly compared to the guidelines laid down by the G20 in Pittsburgh on September 25, on the basis o the recommendations o the inancial stability Board.

To promote "greater coherence" between the le el o the bonus and risk taking, the ed did to spread the payment o the bonus "on a long enough period to enable the achie ement o a substantial portion o the risks associated with the acti ities o the employee".But it does not include the recommendation o the G20 on a share o 40 to 60 o the bonus de erred o er se eral years. Similarly, in ad ocating a "substantial share", the ed does not return the threshold o 50 bonus paid in shares recommended by the CSB or the need to impose a mechanism o "clawbacks" (restitution) or poor results to make it more sensiti e to per ormance pay. Clearly, while respecting the spirit o the recommendations o the G20 in Pittsburgh, the US regulator is still a margin o manoeu re.

Skepticism and bitterness

In the wake o the wa e o quarterly results o banks, the dual o ensi es o the Treasury and the ed aims to show that US regulators remain igilant on a politically sensiti e ield. But the "tour o screws" authorities raises both skepticism and bitterness in the inancial community. Among the irst a ected, Bank o America (Bo A) and AIG's responded with a certain bitterness in stressing that the remuneration limits may aggra ate the problem o "skills drain". Other experts point out that the 136 leaders o se en assisted companies e ecti ely under the control o Ken einberg (39 ha ing already le t their position), 66 o them will continue to earn long term more than 1 million or 2009.

E en in the case o en orcement, the new de ice or control o the ed should not pre ent Wall Street banks to pay a global en elope bonus increased by 40 percent to 26 billion (compared with 18.4 billion in 2008), according to the irm Johnson Associates Inc. orecast, against a decline o 1.4 o the a erage income o all us employees at the end o the year.