US executives 'succumbed to greed'

Chief executives of large US corporations had succumbed to greed before the outbreak of recession.

That is according to Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, who claimed that the present generation of individuals occupying the leadership structures of US firms had harmed the country's economy, the Financial Times reported.

In an attack on the compensation practices awarded to director-level staff in the build-up to the financial crisis, the head of the American institution suggested that the executives made the most mistakes with the "least accountability".

Mr Immelt added that business leaders should welcome government intervention in the weeks ahead as a "catalyst … for change".

According to the newspaper, he said: "We are at the end of a difficult generation of business leadership ... tough-mindedness, a good trait, was replaced by meanness and greed."

Last month, a study conducted at Purdue University claimed that US executives are remunerated 344-times more than the average employee.