SIFMA issued the following statement from president and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. related to today’s proposal on bank incentive compensation:
“SIFMA agrees with the policy objective to ensure that incentive-based compensation arrangements do not undermine the safety and soundness of financial institutions by encouraging inappropriate risk-taking. We have deep concerns, however, with re-proposing a flawed eight-year-old rule without changes and the failure to act jointly with, or seek input from, all other relevant regulatory bodies, as required while also failing to take into account the dramatic changes that have occurred in the ensuing years. We are also troubled that the vague, overly broad proposed rule exceeds its statutory mandate and will have serious and wide-reaching consequences. Specifically, we believe that the regulations implementing Section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Act, if adopted as reproposed by the agencies today, will undercut the U.S. financial services industry’s ability to recruit and retain talent in order to responsibly manage risk and operate the industry’s businesses. We look forward to submitting detailed comments upon closely reviewing the proposal.”