When last proposed in 2016, the rules would have required the biggest financial firms to defer payment of at least half of executives’ bonuses for four years, a year longer than common industry practice. It also would have established a seven-year clawback period, in which executives would be required to return their bonuses if their actions hurt the institution or if a firm had to restate financial results….
Alan Johnson, a consultant who helps banks design their pay plans, said much of what regulators had hoped to accomplish with the pay rules is already a reality. Today’s bankers and traders are paid less than a decade ago, and banks have curbed the riskiest kind of trading and lending that drove losses during the meltdown.
“I think the regulators are going to refight a war they’ve already won,” Mr. Johnson said.
The Wall Street Journal / March 5, 2019