FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 17, 2023

CONTACT

Carter Dougherty
carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org
(202) 251-6700

Bonuses Paid to Silicon Valley Bank Highlight Need to Finish Executive Pay Rules

President Biden’s and Congress’s efforts to begin to hold the executives of Silicon Valley Branch accountable are important to rein in the reckless and imprudent practices of senior bank executives, who have gamed our financial system and hurt communities in the process. True accountability includes executives forfeiting enormous bonuses, while their bank is on the brink of failure. 

“We saw corporate executives rewarded handsomely despite their failures and massive bailouts in 2008 and now it’s happening again in 2023, despite the fact that Congress explicitly gave agencies the authority to write rules to rein in corporate pay when they passed Dodd-Frank,” said Natalia Renta, senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform. “Current rules incentivize risky behavior for short-term profit. Regulators must finalize implementation of Section 956 this year so that executive compensation is aligned with the needs of depositors and consumers.” 

Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and multiple advocacy groups have repeatedly called for regulators to finally implement Section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It has been 12 years since the deadline Congress gave regulators to finalize the rule, but they have failed to do so. Regulators should use all available tools to hold bank executives accountable and prevent future abuses from occurring.