Top US banker criticises bonuses 美国顶级银行家批判红利政策

A top US banker has said that public anger about excessive bonuses paid out by financial institutions is both "understandable and appropriate".

一位美国顶级银行家称，公众对于金融机构支付过多的红利而愤怒的情况是“可以理解和适当的”。

Lloyd Blankfein is one of Wall Street\'s highest paid bankers

Lloyd Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs, also said that payouts guaranteed over a number of years should be banned.

His own firm was recently criticised for setting aside billions of dollars to be paid out in bonuses.

Many blame excessive bonuses for the short-term risk taking that helped bring about the financial crisis.

Mr Blankfein, one of Wall Street's best paid bankers, said "there is little justification¹ for the payment of outsized discretionary（随意的，自由裁量的） compensation（补偿，赔偿） when a financial institution lost money for the year".

Speaking at a banking² conference in Frankfurt, he added that "multi-year guaranteed employment contracts should be banned entirely³".

Dismay

Bonuses have come under increasing pressure in the fallout from the global economic downturn.

Governments across the world have been discussing ways to ensure that excessive payouts do not become commonplace again.

Last weekend, G20 finance ministers proposed that bonuses should be deferred⁴ to（听从） reward long-term success rather than short-term risk taking.

Some countries had pushed for formal caps on large payouts.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dutch banks adopted a new code of conduct, which will include capping bonuses and making sure they can be clawed back in the future.

Despite the push for action, there has been widespread dismay that many banks are again paying out generous bonuses.