UBS appears to have been overcome by a wave of guilt...

Senior employees who have left the troubled Swiss banking group UBS in the last year have waived or repaid SFr70 million ($58 million) in salaries and bonuses.
Chairman Peter Kurer revealed details of the firm’s bonus uptake during an extraordinary general meeting on November 27, adding that UBS will conduct an independent investigation to decide whether any lawsuits should be filed against individuals over repayment or liability...

The same is not true at AIG, where executive bonuses were announced yesterday. But surely AIG said on Wednesday (with great fanfare) that it wasn't awarding any bonuses? (Fair enough, given that the company is being kept afloat by repeated injections of government cash).

Well, yes. But, you see, that only applied to bonuses. These are bonuses. Entirely different. (And, give them their due, they're being delayed by four months.)

Specifically, they're retention bonuses.

An AIG spokesman said on Wednesday that retention bonuses were different from the annual bonuses included in Tuesday’s statement.