American International Group (AIG) planned to hand out 100 million dollars in bonuses to executives today, US media reported, despite public outrage over an insurer that has received 180 billion dollars in government bail-outs, according to dpa. Bank of America, meanwhile, has approved total payouts for 2009 of more than 4 billion dollars to its investment bankers and traders, an average of between 300,000 and 500,000 per employee, the Wall Street Journal reported. AIG prompted a public furore and government embarrassment when it paid out a similar round of bonuses in 2009, arguing these were part of long-standing contracts that had to be fulfilled. Its latest payments will go to employees of the Financial Products division, which lies at the heart of AIG's troubles, which were a key contributor to the financial crisis. Even with the 100-million-dollar payout, the employees are reportedly accepting up to 20 per cent less than what they had been originally promised. AIG is still majority-owned by the US government. Bank of America was also bailed out for 45 billion dollars and posted a loss of 2.2 billion dollars over 2009. It has since paid back the government loans. Opposition Republicans criticized President Barack Obama's administration for being unable to stop the AIG bonuses from being paid. The Obama administration has said it has no leverage over the company to stop the payouts. AIG has taxpayers over a barrel. The Obama administration has been outmaneuvered," Republican Senator Charles Grassley said in a statement. Investment bankers and their counterparts at insurance firms are typically the highest earners at financial firms, yet are also those considered most responsible for the 2008 Wall Street crisis that helped plunge the world into recession.
