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US bank CEOs grilled over issues such as high salaries

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WASHINGTON Chief executives of US banks were grilled on Wednesday on their pay packages among other issues.

Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, set the tone, hitting out at the industry's "chronic lawbreaking" and also alluding to 2008 US bank bailouts.

Some Democrats had ripped into the 2017 tax cut signed by US President Donald Trump as a boon to the rich that has done little to help families struggling after the 2008 recession.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon defended the measure for boosting US banks, saying "a more competitive business will drive wages in time".

Representative Nydia Velazquez, a Democrat of New York, pressed Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat to justify his 2018 pay of US$24.2 million (S$33 million), an estimated 486 times that of the average employee. He said his pay was set by the board of directors and if he were an average worker, he "would hopeful that there's the opportunity to continue to advance".

That did not sit well with Ms Velazquez, who said "this is why people who live in a bubble and in an ivory tower cannot understand the anger out there".- AFP

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