Bank of America’s chief executive, Kenneth D. Lewis, is joining the growing ranks of top banking executives who are giving up annual bonuses after a dreadful year in the financial industry.

Evidence suggests that the link between executive pay and managerial performance is tighter than proponents of pay caps seem to think.

The decision from Vikram S. Pandit, Citigroup’s chief executive, and Winfried F. W. Bischoff, the bank’s chairman, stands as a test of whether high pay is necessary to retain talented executives.

The compensation for five of its top managers and its former chief executive was $26.8 million for the fiscal year ended June 30.

As regulators sift through the rubble of the financial crisis, questions are being asked about what role lavish bonuses played in the debacle.

Morgan Stanley is attaching a string to its annual bonuses, one that would enable the bank to yank some money back from its employees.

For better or worse, you, fellow taxpayer, are an investor in Citigroup and other banks. You have a vested interest in Citigroup’s success. If this giant falls, we all lose.

Toyota Motor said it would cut management bonuses by 10 percent as the global economic slowdown deepens.

Three former officials of UBS, the troubled Swiss financial giant, said that they would forgo more than $27 million in compensation.

The executives, who said they would forgo about $27.7 million, oversaw more than $40 billion in subprime losses at the Swiss bank.