Some critics of Obama's plan said restricting executive pay would dissuade the most talented people from working at the companies most in need of help, or dissuade companies from seeking necessary government aid.
Steve Bartlett, president of the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents large financial institutions, called Obama's restrictions "a measured response" but warned they still could cause problems.
"Political decisions like this often have unintended consequences that could hamper the economic recovery," he said. "Healthy banks will begin to stray away from using [Troubled Asset Relief Program] capital."
Crystal warned of another potential consequence: a desperate desire by banks that need government assistance to get out from under the compensation restrictions.
"It's an incentive to find a way to pay the government back -- however you get there," he said. "It could encourage bad behavior."
But others said people on Wall Street had more pressing demands than worrying about their gargantuan pay.
"It would be nice if they applied their brilliant minds to not getting us into this mess in the first place [rather than in] finding ways to not limit executive compensation," said Paul Hodgson, a pay expert at Corporate Library, a corporate-governance research firm.
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