World - 12 Wall Street chiefls took home $1bn in five years

NEW YORK: In the midst of a financial turmoil, raising questions over fat executive pay packets, a media report has listed out 12 top bankers of Wall Street who collectively took home over one billion dollars in the past five years including Lehman Brothers' chief Richard Fuld. The total take-home pay of the 12 bankers, current and former chiefs of some of the biggest names in the US financial space, stands at $1,053.15 million during 2003-07, as per data compiled by the New York Times. The report listed out Citigroup's India-born chief executive Vikram Pandit, JP Morgan Chase's James L Dimon and Goldman Sachs' Lloyd C Blankfein, among others. Fuld, who is also the chairman of Lehman Brothers', took home $256.41 million. "As recently as June 2008, Fuld said he was confident that Lehman was sound even as the bank posted a second-quarter loss of $2.8 billion. But on September 15, Lehman filed for bankruptcy and began sliding towards an eventual liquidation," the report said. According to the report prepared with data provided by executive compensation research firm Equilar, Bank of America chairman and chief executive Kenneth D Lewis took home USD 133.36 million, while Dimon pocketed $108.72 million. However, Pandit's salary is calculated only for a month, since he joined the banking behemoth only in December 2007. He received a compensation of $250,000 in that month. Blankfein, chief executive and chairman at Goldman Sachs pocketed $102.74 millon. Interestingly, at the investment banking giant, Blankfein replaced Henry Paulson Jr, the current US Treasury Secretary. Meanwhile, former chief executive and chairman of Morgan Stanley Philip J Purcell had a take-home pay of $95.18 million. He resigned from the post in June 2005. The current chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley John J Mack had a total compensation of $41.15 million. JP Morgan Chase's former chairman William B Harrison Jr had a compensation of $71.2 million. According to New York Times, Merrill Lynch's former chief executive and chairman E Stanley O'Neal pocketed $80.96 million during 2003-07, while the present chief executive and chairman John A Thain pocketed $15.06 million. Charles O Prince, the former chief executive and chairman of Citigroup, had a compensation of $65.45 million. He became the chief executive in October 2003 and resigned as CEO and chairman in November 2007. Former chief executive and chairman of Bear Stearns, which was taken over by JP Morgan a few months back, received a total compensation of $82.53 million.