Crise financière: la clairvoyance des chefs de la direction

Dans un article intitulé Before the Bust, These CEOs Took Money Off the Table le Wall Street Journal d'aujourd'hui nous apprend que si les investisseurs ont perdu des sommes colossales sur les marchés, certains chefs de la direction d'institutions financières n'ont pas été aussi malchanceux.

Fifteen corporate chieftains of large home-building and financial-services firms each reaped more than $100 million in cash compensation and proceeds from stock sales during the past five years, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Four of those executives, including the heads of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos., ran companies that have filed for bankruptcy protection or seen their share prices fall more than 90% from their peak.

The study, which examined filings at 120 public companies in such sectors as banking, mortgage finance, student lending, stock brokerage and home building, showed that top executives and directors of the firms cashed out a total of more than $21 billion during the period.

Ce constat alimentera sûrement les réflexions sur les réformes à apporter au contrôle de la rémunération des dirigeants. Les réformes proviendront-elles des entreprises et de leur conseils? ou des législateurs? À suivre.