Wal-Mart Ties Compliance With Executive Pay

Corporate governance experts believe Wal-Mart Stores’ recent decision to tie executive bonuses to compliance objectives could be a bellwether for how other large, multinational companies hold management accountable should their firms run afoul of certain regulations. The retail giant has undergone an overhaul of its compliance operations following a federal investigation into bribery allegations in…

Tying Pay to Compliance: Will Walmart’s Plan Work?

Lots of companies talk about making compliance and ethics a priority. Walmart is putting its money where its mouth is. The retail giant announced last month that it will soon begin basing a portion of compensation for top executives, including CEO Michael Duke, on the company’s ability to meet compliance goals. If top executives don’t…

For Media Moguls, Paydays That Stand Out

What’s the difference between a media mogul and a chief executive elsewhere in the business world? About $10 million in compensation, give or take.  Leaders in other industries may be well paid, but as the accompanying chart shows, they earn far less than their media counterparts. Consider: the top 20 companies in the United States ranked…

OCIO Boosts Value of Consultant Relations Pros

As investment consultants and managers launch outsourced CIO (OCIO) services to meet institutions’ demands, consultant relations professionals who woo consultants on behalf of managers have been left with a very different job description. Consultant relations professionals, who once had the sole objective of servicing investment consultants in the hopes of winning business from their institutional…

The Infinity Pool of Executive Pay

RELAX. Sit back. And forget, for a moment, those pesky shareholders and bothersome boards, the regulations, the investigations and all the other headaches of being a chief executive today. Dodd-Frank rules? Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers? Leave them behind. And let yourself sink into the buttery leather seat of your corporate jet as it soars…

Proposed Bonus Cap ‘to Hit Inst’l Managers’ Staff

A proposed European Union cap on managers’ bonuses is likely to hit U.S.-based staff at institutional asset managers, experts say, regardless of whether those managers have E.U. arms. Salaries at asset managers may be subject to greater scrutiny, with compensation deferred over longer periods and fiercer competition for jobs, as E.U. asset manager staff flee…

Manager Move Sparks Analyst Bonus Debate

Manning & Napier, an asset manager with $45 billion under management, has devised an unorthodox way of compensating its analysts, penalizing them for selections that cause underperformance in client portfolios and carrying these penalties forward into future years. It says the method more closely links analyst goals with institutional investors, but experts disagree… “It is…

The Bright Side of Bank Robbery

Morgan Stanley’s reported move to defer 100% of 2012 bonuses for high-earning employees is the crescendo of a trend of big banks deferring more pay in recent years. It’s the second straight year of big deferrals at Morgan Stanley, which a year ago held back 75% of bonuses for traders, investment bankers, and other high…