Ally says U.S. probing retail financing practices
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(Reuters) -- Ally Financial Inc. said in a securities filing on Friday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recently told the U.S. auto lender that it is being investigated for certain "retail financing practices."
Ally said in the annual 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the probe could result in actions against the company.
An Ally spokeswoman declined to comment. Ally's lending includes retail financing and leasing for new and used vehicles for consumers.
Bloomberg reported on Feb. 21 that the CFPB has notified at least four banks that it may sue them over vehicle loans and interest-rate markups by auto dealers that appear discriminatory. It's unclear whether Ally was one of those four banks.
Ally also said today its CEO Michael Carpenter earned $9.6 million in stock and other compensation in 2012, a figure that was largely unchanged from 2011.
Ally, the former financing arm of General Motors Co., is 74 percent owned by the U.S. government after a series of bailouts during the financial crisis.
An internal watchdog had said in January that the U.S. Treasury Department in 2012 failed to curb executive pay at companies rescued with taxpayer funds, the second straight year that it did not live up to its own rules.
In the same year, the Treasury's Office of the Special Master had acceded to company requests in approving multi-million-dollar pay packages and pay hikes for top executives at General Motors, AIG and Ally Financial.
The Special Master approved all 18 pay raises requested by the companies, for a total of $6.2 million, and approved pay packages of at least $1 million for 68 of the 69 employees at the companies it was overseeing, the report found.
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