Washington - On Thursday slammed Wall Street bankers for awarding themselves nearly 20 billion dollars in bonuses last year as the US economy suffers through its worst recession in decades.

Obama called it the "height of irresponsibility" and "shameful" that financial institutions would issue large bonuses and severance packages to their employees as they pleaded for taxpayer funds to keep the industry alive.

He was reacting to a report by the New York State comptroller Wednesday that employees of Wall Street firms received 18.4 billion dollars in cash bonuses in 2008. The amount marked a 44-per-cent drop from 2007, yet it was still the sixth-largest bonus year on record.

"Part of what we're going to need is for folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint and show some discipline and show some sense of responsibility," Obama said at the White House, after a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said it was unclear whether any of the bonuses came from taxpayer funds. Congress approved a 700-billion- dollar package in October to rescue the financial industry from collapse. About half of the money has already been given out to banks.

Citigroup, which received a 45-billion-dollar bail-out from the government in November, was forced this week to cancel its order of a new corporate jet after the Treasury Department threatened to withdraw the funds.

"We shouldn't have to do that because they should know better. And we will continue to send that message loud and clear," Obama said.

Obama's administration is expected to unveil a series of new plans to stabilize the financial industry next week. The Wall Street Journal Thursday reported those plans could cost as much as 2 trillion dollars. dpa