Morgan Stanley CEO to pass on bonus pay

NEW YORK, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The chief executive officer of one of the top U.S. financial firms, John Mack at Morgan Stanley, has requested the firm keep his bonus check for 2009.

It is the third consecutive year Mack, who is retiring soon, has asked the board to pass on giving him a bonus beyond his $800,000 salary, ABC News reported Friday.

In a memo to the board of directors, Mack said he would skip what would be a multimillion-dollar bonus because of "the extraordinary financial support governments provided our industry."

Bonus checks for executives at Morgan Stanley are not restricted by the Treasury Department, which is setting pay for executives at firms that received extraordinary bailout support -- Morgan Stanley having repaid the government its $10 billion bailout loan in June.

The heated controversy over massive bonus checks after a financial crisis that prompted a global recession has pushed Britain to employ a one-time "super tax" of 50 percent on high commission checks. In an interview Sunday, President Barack Obama said he "did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street."