The CEO of Silicon Valley Bank — whose recent collapse is our country’s second largest bank failure ever — made $9.9 million last year.

The CEO of Signature Bank — whose collapse two days later is the third largest bank failure in U.S. history — made $8.6 million in 2022.

And here’s the thing:

There is currently no rule prohibiting Big Banks from lavishing millions on top executives for doing obviously reckless things that generate short-term profits.

There is supposed to be exactly such a rule.

It was part of the Dodd-Frank reforms enacted after the 2008 financial crisis (which saw the largest bank failure in our nation’s history with the collapse of Washington Mutual).

But a hodgepodge of federal agencies — the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Federal Reserve, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission — that is supposed to finalize the rule has so far failed to do so.

For coming up on 13 years.

In fact, not one of those agencies even lists finalizing the rule among its current priorities.

Public Citizen is calling on President Joe Biden to direct all of the relevant agencies in his administration to prioritize finalizing the long-overdue, congressionally mandated Dodd-Frank rule to rein in bank executive pay that incentivizes recklessness and even fraud.

Tell President Joe Biden:

The failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank are stark reminders (that could have been prevented) of what we already learned from the 2008 financial meltdown: Without commonsense regulations and government oversight, far too many Big Bank executives just can’t resist the temptation to put short-term profits before responsible financial practices. The American people have been waiting almost 13 years for a congressionally mandated rule reining in bank executive pay that incentivizes recklessness and even fraud. We urge you to direct the relevant agencies in your administration to at long last finalize the Dodd-Frank executive compensation rule without further delay.

Click now to add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

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