Netherlands: bankers still as well paid

Despite a few signs of good will, Dutch bankers still receive tremendous premiums. Those whose wages exceeded €1.5 million received bonuses amounting to 311% of their remuneration for 2008 (as opposed to 354% in average in 2007). Therefore, we are far from bonuses which shouldn’t exceed one year of fixed salary, as promised by the finance world in the amiable agreement signed on March 27 with the government. We’re also far from the promise made, on September 9, for bank administrators, in a code of conduct spontaneously proposed by the Association of Dutch Banks (NVB – see our dispatch No. 090823). However, middle ranks (employees earning over €200,000 annually) saw their bonuses drop (11% in 2008 as opposed to 30% in 2007). These numbers were provided from the Central Banks of the Netherlands (DNB), which surveyed 27 financial establishments. In boards, the change is spectacular, with 43% of administrators who didn’t receive a bonus in 2008, four times more than in 2007. This comes from the conditions set by the government before bailing banks out in the fall 2008. “There’s still a risk that bankers will focus on their variable remuneration” the DNB concluded.