March 23 (Bloomberg) -- ING Groep NV, the first Dutch bank to tap a government rescue package, asked its “top 200” employees and their teams to return last year’s bonuses.
The bank also deferred 2009 variable cash compensation for all workers until a new policy is established next year, the Amsterdam-based financial-services company said in a message sent to employees and obtained by Bloomberg News today.
“Given the continuing public scrutiny of variable pay practices in our industry, ING is moving to align its variable compensation practices with the new reality,” it said.
Banks are calling on executives to forfeit bonuses amid growing public criticism as taxpayers bail out lenders. Societe Generale SA, France’s third-largest bank, said yesterday senior executives would return their stock options in response to public “indignation.” The Paris-based bank received 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in state aid in December.
ING, which received a 10 billion-euro ($13.6 billion) lifeline in October and is transferring the risk on most Alt-A mortgage assets to the government, paid 300 million euros in bonuses for 2008.
“In this environment, we must show how seriously we take this matter,” Jan Hommen, chief executive officer designate, said in the message. “Most important, we must put this issue behind us so we can focus on what matters most, our customers and how we take the company forward.”
ING rose 15 percent to 5 euros as of 11:15 a.m. in Amsterdam. That values the financial-services company at 10.3 billion euros.
The Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant earlier reported ING asked its top 1,200 employees to return their 2008 bonuses.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Be the First