The Treasury announced on April 6 that the chief executives ofAIG, Ally Financial and General Motors would have theircompensation packages frozen for a second year in a row,essentially keeping their compensation at 2011 levels.

The compensation freeze arose out of the 2007-2009 financialcrisis when the government injected taxpayer-financed funds intothe companies as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program(TARP).

AIG's top executive will receive total direct compensation (amix of cash, stock and future stock option) of $ 10.5 million whileAlly Financial's leader will receive $9.5 million and GM's chiefexecutive will receive $ 9 million.

The Treasury also announced that total direct compensationduring 2012 for 69 other senior executives at the three companieswas being cut by 10 percent from 2011 levels. The group of 69 iscomprised of the five senior executive officers and the next 20most highly compensated employees (based on 2011 compensation) atthe three companies without six departures that took place sinceJan. 1, 2012.

The three companies were part of a larger group of sevencompanies that were deemed by the Treasury to have received“exceptional” assistance; in response to populist anger at high-payand huge bonuses at bailed-out firms, the Obama administrationcreated a “special master's office” to oversee pay practices atexceptional firms. Four of the original seven—Bank ofAmerica,Citigroup, Chrysler Financial and Chrysler—have repaid their TARPmoney and left the program.

This story originally appeared on LifeHealthPro, a sister site ofPC360.