Geithner:US Only Forces Management Changes To Strengthen Cos-ABC

The U.S. government only ousts corporate executives if it's essential to strengthening the company and the wider economy,Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in an interview with ABC News' "World News with Charles Gibson."

His comments, to be aired Wednesday, come after President Barack Obama's administration forced the General Motors Corp., (GM) chief executive Rick Wagoner out, sparking speculation that executives at troubled financial institutions that took government funds could face the same fate.

"Where we provide assistance to the financial system, we're going to make sure it comes on conditions to make sure the system emerges stronger," Geithner said. "That basic standard and basic objective is the same across everything we're doing to help get recovery back on track."

Referring to changes at companies like Fannie Mae (FMN) and Freddie Mac (FRE), Geither said the government has made sure that "the kind of changes in management or the board (are) necessary to make sure these banks, these financial institutions, emerge stronger," he said.

Ahead of a meeting of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations, Geithner said now is "strongest moment of cooperation globally...since the Second World War." He said the rest of the world's major countries agree with Obama that, despite variation among their needs and the measures taken to address them, everyone must work together to stabilize the global economy. He said other major countries share the president's support for financial regulatory reform measures as well.

He said complaints the Treasury hasn't done enough to make the Troubled Asset Relief Program transparent and accountable were "unfair."

Web site: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/04/geithner-global.html

-Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5500