Geithner: Pay Changes Ahead for Bank Execs

The Obama administration intends to push for “very, very substantial change,” in the way Wall Street pays executives, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner tells Bloomberg. “I don’t think we can go back to the way it was,” he said, arguing that the current big-bonus status quo encourages too much risk-taking. The changes will be part of the administration’s larger regulatory overhaul.

Geithner also said there was “real concern” some banks were trying to repay their TARP loans too quickly. He said banks would have to show they had significantly more capital than they needed, and the ability to raise capital on their own, before they could repay the government. And though credit is tight, Geithner said he wouldn’t force banks to lend.
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