Chief Financial Officer  David Viniar said in a conference call the bank would exhibit "restraint" in payments to employees, given the rough economic climate, The New York Times reported Thursday.

 

The bank is trying a humbler approach to bonus checks that rankle in Washington and on Main Street given unemployment of 10 percent and the taxpayers' role in bailing out the banks that helped pump up the collapsed real estate bubble that pushed the economy into recession.

In each quarter of the year, the bank decreased the ratio of pay to revenue from 50 percent in the first quarter to 48 percent in the second and 43 percent in the final two quarters of the year. It also gave $500 million of its compensation reserves in the final quarter to charities and programs for small businesses.

 

In December, it said its top 30 executives would be given bonuses in stock that could not be redeemed for five years, a gesture meant to encourage job retention and increase employee concern for the company's long-term interests.