Discover Financial Services, which took $1.3 billion from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program, said its top five executives will not receive cash bonuses while the company has government money.
Base salaries were augmented by the award of restricted shares, the credit card company said last week in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Executives will not receive a cash bonus "during the time period in which such compensation is prohibited due to the company's participation in" Tarp, Discover said.
Several financial companies have altered their compensation policies amid public outcry over pay at firms taking taxpayer funds. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said last week that it would pay its top 30 executives in restricted stock they cannot sell for five years.
Discover's chief executive, David Nelms, will be paid $1 million in cash and $3.6 million in restricted shares for the 2010 fiscal year, the company said. Roger Hochschild, its chief operating officer, will be paid $800,000 in cash and $2.1 million in shares.
The policy also covers the salaries of Roy Guthrie, Discover's chief financial officer; Diane Offereins, its executive vice president of payment services; and Carlos Minetti, its executive vice president for cardholder services and consumer banking.
