Wilmington Trust Breaks Out the Clawback

Thought to be the first victim of the clawback provision outlined under TARP, Wilmington Trust CEO John Foley was recently notified that he will have to give back his approximately $1.75 million signing bonus.

The payment, promised to Foley when he joined the Delaware bank last June, "violated the Treasury Department's compensation rules for banks that received taxpayer bailout money under the Troubled Asset Relief Program," which "banned large lump-sum cash bonuses at banks that received TARP money." Unfortunately for Foley, in November 2010, Wilimington became a subsidiary of M&T Bank, which received $330 million in TARP funds and has yet to repay them.

Before you shed a tear for the CEO, keep in mind that the same day Wilmington Trust made Foley's clawback public, it also increased his annual salary from $1.2 million to $1.5 million.

(DealBook)