As Countrywide shareholders vote on whether to be acquired by Bank of America --on the same day the state of Illinois is suing Countrywide and CEO Angelo Mozilo for fraud--research firm SNL Financial says a horrible year for banks and thrifts hasn't stopped them from paying their chief execs pretty well.
SNL says that while banks and thrifts saw returns drop 24 percent last year, "the median change in total compensation for all bank and thrift CEOs increased 4.8 percent during the same period." It was not quite so rosy for the CEO's of the biggest firms.
Those with assets of at least $10 billion saw a median drop in CEO income of 4.3 percent.
