Stolen From an Irish Playbook & Will Vikram Pandit Ever Make Money Again ?

If we have the brightest talent on the planet why would banks yield to congress by forgoing repossession on 1 million homes ? This was a proactive move made by Ireland over the last 6 months.

Also will Pandit ever make money again with C ? Taking a $1 salary is very kind of you. Especially since Pandit sold a defunct mortgage company to C for $500 million. Does this constitute a conflict of interest since the entity was sold just as he was hired to run C ?

US banking chiefs on Wednesday yielded to demands by angry members of Congress and agreed to suspend mortgage foreclosures for at least three weeks to give the US government time to finalise its financial rescue plans.

The move, which will freeze repossessions on 1m US homes, came as eight Wall Street leaders came face-to-face with the public outrage over their banks’ role in the financial crisis.

Members of Congress attacked their bonuses, lending practices and perks at a tense hearing in Washington.

Vikram Pandit, chief executive of Citigroup, responded to the criticism by saying he would slash his salary, which totalled $1m last year, to $1 and forgo bonuses until the troubled financial services group returns to profitability.

The eight bankers, whose companies have received a large portion of the first $350bn in aid from the government’s troubled asset relief programme (Tarp), also mounted a spirited defence of their banks’ roles in the economy.

During some curt exchanges with House members, the bankers expressed support for plans to replace the fragmented US regulatory structure with a “super-regulator” for the entire financial industry, pledged to curb executive compensation and modify mortgages to keep Americans in their homes.

But their words did little to quell the politicians’ criticism of the financial sector’s behaviour in the credit bubble that led to the current turmoil.

Michael Capuano, a Massachusetts Democrat, told the Wall Street chiefs: “America doesn’t trust you anymore . . . My hope is that you will be answering questions in court one day.”

Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the committee, urged the bankers to “co-operate with us…to alleviate that public anger not with mumbo-jumbo but with reality”.

Mr Pandit came close to apologising for Citi’s decision to take delivery of a $50m corporate jet – a move that was reversed after Treasury pressure. “We didn’t adjust quickly enough to the new world and I take personal responsibility for it,” he said.