$55K for a bailout-mobile?
There’s been endless stories written about executive compensation for banks participating in Treasury’s Capital Purchase Program. As the rules clearly spell out, compensation for the five named executives is capped at $500K and there’s additional restrictions on so-called golden parachutes. But I’ve yet to come across anything that looks at some of the perks — mostly cars and country clubs — that typically come with running even a modest-sized bank.
So you can imagine my surprise when I took a look at the 10Q that Capital Corp. of the West (CCOW) filed late yesterday. As the bank, which has seen its stock decline 91 percent so far this year, announced back in July, it replaced longtime CEO Thomas Hawker (pictured here during happier times) with Richard Cupp, a veteran banker from the Los Angeles area.
But it wasn’t until yesterday’s filing that the bank included the details of Cupp’s agreement. Under the agreement, Cupp will get paid $500K a year — a 22% increase over Hawker’s salary of $410K. But it’s the car — specifically the stipulation that the “Company shall purchase or lease an automobile of the Executive’s choice for his use as Chief Executive Officer at an “out the door” cost not to exceed $55,000.” that really made me pay attention, especially in light of the fact that the bank is asking the feds (read: taxpayers) for a $46 million helping hand. Given that, couldn’t Cupp settle for a Nissan Versa?
Image source: Nasdaq
|
Posted in Tags: 10Qs, bailout, TARP |
 2 Comments » |
November 20th, 2008 at 12:07 am
55K for a company car, 500K a year salary? ARE THEY KIDDING? I am sick to death of my tax dollars going to people that do not need it, BAIL OUTS, Let’s get real folks. They are the ones living high on the preverbial hog so why should we keep taking care of them when there are so many other people that need it? WE MUST CHANGE THE WAY WE DO THINGS.
ENOUGH SAID, JUST PEEVED ABOUT ALL THESE BAIL OUTS.
December 12th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Idiots, before you start attacking the very highly respected bank turnaround specialist, Mr. Cupp, you need to do a mere 3 minutes of homework. Not every American banking executive is a greedy asshole – the assholes create a presumption for the others who do have integrity and do step up. First, Cupp was hired by CCOW before the financial services industry fell apart or anything like TARP appeared. His compensation is extremely modest by industry standards for a bank of this size, especially one so troubled when he came in. Second, his predecessor, Thomas Hawker, who was CEO of CCOW for 17 years, ran CCOW into the ground through extravagant material expenditures, acquiring banks CCOW could not afford because it was already privately fragile, sitting on his complacent, self-aggrandizing ass surrounded by a board of inept and unqualified sycophants, and much more. He danced out of CCOW in June, 2007 with a prayer to everyone left behind for the mess he created – indeed, it remains to be seen whether this important community bank will survive thanks entirely to Thomas Hawker. You want the facts? Go to http://www.ccow.com and http://www.countybank.com, and call Mr. Cupp personally, to get your facts straight before going off on a rare American corporate hero.