Kenneth Feinberg having an impact?

March 22, 2010 | By Jim Kim

Did you really think the pay czar's job was done? Not even close. The next step for Kenneth Feinberg, the special master for executive compensation at Treasury, is to review the compensation plans of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and 417 other firms that took government bailout money (bailout news). Once again, he's tasked with looking at the pay of the top 25 executives.

The period under review includes the year-end bonus season for 2008, a period rife with possible controversy. We would not be surprised at all if Feinberg found cases of unwarranted pay. He will not have any actual clawback authority, but he maybe able to force some renegotiations. We'll likely hear about some new pay restrictions soon. All this begs the question: Are his efforts bearing fruit? He tells Crain's New York, "There are some small, early signs that what I am doing will have a voluntary impact." He's certainly been busy renegotiating pay.

For more:
- here's the Crain's New York article