Reimbursing for flights

John Mack, chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley, agreed this month to start reimbursing the company for his personal use of the corporate aircraft amid growing political interest in bank executives' pay and perks.

Mack's personal flights cost the company $368,675 last year, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. Mack's decision to start reimbursing the company comes more than two years after Robert Rubin, the former chairman of Citigroup's executive committee, agreed to start reimbursing that company for his personal aircraft use.

Morgan Stanley, the fifth-biggest US bank by assets, reported the second quarterly loss in its history last year and has taken US$10 billion in Government aid. Outrage over executive bonuses and perks such as personal access to corporate jets led the House of Representatives to pass legislation that would impose a 90 per cent tax on bonus payments to anyone with a household income higher than $250,000 who works at a bank that received more than $5 billion in taxpayer money.

- BLOOMBERG