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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Fed wanted to block AIG bonuses | Fed wanted to block AIG bonuses |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke says he wanted to take legal action to stop insurer AIG paying millions of dollars of bonuses but was advised against it. | Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke says he wanted to take legal action to stop insurer AIG paying millions of dollars of bonuses but was advised against it. |
| He also said that had AIG collapsed, it would have caused a 1930s-style global financial and economic meltdown. | He also said that had AIG collapsed, it would have caused a 1930s-style global financial and economic meltdown. |
| Mr Bernanke was testifying before US Congress along with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the need to reform the US financial system. | Mr Bernanke was testifying before US Congress along with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the need to reform the US financial system. |
| Mr Geithner asked for new powers to take control of failing institutions. | Mr Geithner asked for new powers to take control of failing institutions. |
| Mr Bernanke said it was "highly inappropriate" to pay substantial bonuses to employees at the AIG division that was the primary source of AIG's collapse. | |
| He said lawyers advised against legal action to prevent the payments, on the grounds that state law provided for substantial damages if the lawsuit failed. | |
| "Legal action could have thus have the perverse effect of doubling or tripling the financial benefits to the AIG-FP employees," he said. | |
| AIG's decision to pay bonuses despite being bailed out by the government had sparked widespread outrage in the US. | |
| Nine of the 10 executives who received top bonuses from US insurance giant AIG have agreed to return them. | |
| Andrew Cuomo said he hoped to recoup $80m (£55m) of bonus payments - which amounts to about half of the $165m paid by AIG on 15 March. | |
| The US has spent a total of $170bn on rescuing AIG since September 2008. |