Unapologetic CEOs: What Did the Banks Do With Your Cash?

Let the Public Relations Battle Begin

Even before coming to Washington, some executives have already launched public relations campaigns, with some deciding to forgo bonuses this year.

Goldman Sachs has announced that seven executives, including CEO Lloyd Blankfein, will not get a bonus.

JP Morgan Chase CEO James Dimon has said he will not seek a bonus.

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Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack and two other two top executives will also not receive bonuses, although that did not stop an angry group of protesters from demonstrating outside his New York home Monday morning.

Just days before the hearing, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf took out full-page ads in Sunday's New York Times and Washington Post to argue that media reports of their planned trip to Las Vegas were "deliberately misleading."

Stumpf said that the Vegas event was not a junket, but rather a weekend to recognize employee performance.

Citigroup and Bank of America took similar approaches, also unveiling full-page ads in the newspapers to state that they were "taking the trust and faith that America has put in us and getting to work -- by lending and investing."

Citigroup's CEO Vikram Pandit and Bank of America's CEO Ken Lewis have waived their bonuses this year, but Stumpf has not. According to a Wells Fargo official, bonus decisions are up to the board of directors and those decisions are typically made in February.