Bonus of Morgan CEO Quadrupled in '99
NEW YORK - Douglas A. Warner 3d, chairman and chief executive officer of J.P. Morgan & Co., saw his annual bonus nearly quadruple last year to $4.6 million, as 1999 profits doubled over a tumultuous 1998.Mr. Warner's total compensation, excluding grants of options and restricted shares, nearly tripled to $5.3 million, including the bonus and an annual salary of $700,000, which was unchanged from 1998.
Other Morgan executives saw similar boosts in their annual paychecks. Walter A. Gubert, vice chairman, received a salary of $450,000 and a bonus of $4.125 million, together more than triple what he received in 1998. Roberto Mendoza, a vice chairman who recently announced his retirement, received $450,000 in salary and $3.699 million in bonus, nearly triple his pay one year earlier.
- Liz Moyer
Dime Goes to Wall St. to Fight Hostile Bid
NEW YORK - Dime Bancorp, the object of a $1.88 billion hostile takeover attempt by rival North Fork Bancorp, took its case to Wall Street Wednesday, saying North Fork's offer was based on "unachievable assumptions."In a presentation to investors, also filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dime executives sought to defend the company's pending merger with Mahwah, N.J.-based Hudson United Bancorp. Dime shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Hudson deal next Wednesday. Melville, N.Y.-based North Fork, which launched its unsolicited bid Sunday night, has urged shareholders to vote against it.
In a statement Monday, Dime's board of directors said it had unanimously rejected the North Fork offer. North Fork countered Wednesday, saying Dime's reaction was "predictable."
Dime said North Fork's projected cost savings of $100 million after taxes were "unrealistically high" and suggested there would be a "high degree of execution risk." In addition, Dime's presentation said, "North Fork has a history of abandoning unsolicited approaches" and says a Dime-North Fork merger would probably never come off.
- Liz Moyer
Deposit Insurance Fund Merger Bill on Way
WASHINGTON - Two members of the House Banking Committee were planning to introduce a bill today to consolidate the bank and thrift deposit insurance funds.The lead sponsors of the "Deposit Insurance Funds Merger Act of 2000" are Rep. Marge Roukema, chairwoman of the financial institutions subcommittee, and Rep. John J. LaFalce, the committee's ranking Democrat, said staff members for both. Other lawmakers are expected to sign onto the bill.
The bipartisan legislation would sidestep controversial issues often linked to plans to merge the funds, such as merging the bank and thrift charters, combining the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision, or rebating premiums to the banking industry. However, these matters are expected to be debated as the bill advances.
- Kevin Guerrero
Fifth Third Settles Discrimination Charges
CINCINNATI - Fifth Third Bancorp reached an agreement with the Department of Labor on Wednesday to resolve allegations of race and gender discrimination at the company.Fifth Third has agreed to pay $440,000 in back pay to 75 minority applicants for entry-level clerical and teller positions and to 26 women professionals and managers who were paid less than their male counterparts.
"We found that qualified minority entry-level applicants were being screened out because the bank was not properly monitoring and documenting its application and hiring process," Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman said in a statement.
Fifth Third spokeswoman Roberta R. Jennings said the company denies any wrongdoing but chose to settle to put the matter behind it. More than half of the employees in Cincinnati are women, she said, and 25% are minorities.
- Louis Whiteman
