Waxman seeks banks' compensation data

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- A U.S. House committee has opened an investigation into how banks on the brink of collapse manage to pay their executives huge bonuses.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has asked nine major U.S. financial institutions for answers, ABC News reported Tuesday.

Waxman sent letters to Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co., Morgan Stanley, State Street Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Goldman Sachs.

In letters to the banks' heads, Waxman said he questions "the appropriateness of depleting the capital that taxpayers just injected into the banks through the payment of billions of dollars in bonuses, especially after one of the financial industry's worst years on record."

The congressman said the nine banks have either spent or set aside $108 billion to pay bonuses to their top executives.

ABC reported that the bonuses range from about $100,000 for a lower-level employee to over $1 million for senior employees.

Last week, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., called for a moratorium on executive bonuses, which some say are necessary for banks to offer in order to retain their leaders.