NEW YORK - (Business Wire) The Goldman Sachs
Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) today announced that its Board of Directors has
approved changes to compensation for 2009. They include the following:

• The
  firm’s entire 30-person management committee, which comprises all
  global divisional and regional leadership, will receive 100 percent of
  their discretionary compensation in the form of Shares at Risk, which
  are subject to restrictions for five years. Discretionary compensation
  represents the vast majority of senior management’s compensation and is
  directly tied to the firm’s overall performance.
• Shares at Risk cannot be sold for five years, in addition to other restrictions.
• The
  five-year holding period on Shares at Risk includes an enhanced
  recapture provision that will permit the firm to recapture the shares
  in cases where the employee engaged in materially improper risk
  analysis or failed sufficiently to raise concerns about risks.
  Enhancing our recapture provision is intended to ensure that our
  employees are accountable for the future impact of their decisions, to
  reinforce the importance of risk controls to the firm and to make clear
  that our compensation practices do not reward taking excessive risk.
• The
  enhanced recapture rights build off an existing clawback mechanism
  which goes well beyond employee acts of fraud or malfeasance and
  includes any conduct that is detrimental to the firm, including conduct
  resulting in a material restatement of the financial statements or
  material financial harm to the firm or one of its business units.
• Shareholders
  will have an advisory vote on the firm’s compensation principles and
  the compensation of its named executive officers at the firm’s Annual
  Meeting of Shareholders in 2010.

“The measures that we are announcing today reflect the compensation
principles that we articulated at our shareholders’ meeting in May. We
believe our compensation policies are the strongest in our industry and
ensure that compensation accurately reflects the firm’s performance and
incentivizes behavior that is in the public’s and our shareholders’
best interests,” said Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of the The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. “In addition, by
subjecting our compensation principles and executive compensation to a
shareholder advisory vote, we are further strengthening our dialogue
with shareholders on the important issue of compensation.”

The Board of Directors and management believe these changes are
consistent with the firm’s compensation principles, which were
presented at last year’s Annual Meeting. Going forward, we continue to
be focused on refining and improving our compensation practices. The
principles underlying effective compensation practices include linking
compensation to multi-year performance, aligning compensation with the
long-term interests of the firm and its shareholders, and ensuring that
compensation incentives are formulated so that they serve as a tool to
attract, retain and motivate talent, without encouraging excessive
risk-taking.

by Tyler Durden via zero hedge
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/goldman-exodus-about-start-firm-announces-management-committee-get-5-year-vesting-shares-ris