Dutch ING Bank has asked its top 1 200 managers not to accept their bonuses for the year 2008.
Quoted in Dutch daily newspaper Volkskrant on Monday, ING’s Jan Hommen, who will formally be appointed as chief executive officer in April, said many managers are prepared not to accept their bonus.
Hommen, who spoke about a ”moral appeal” to ING’s managers, said the Dutch bank would only pay bonuses during 2009 ”after a new reward system has been established”.
Such a new system should be in place by 2010, Hommen said. He added that, from now on, bonuses would only be paid if ING Group’s total company results showed a profit.
ING recently announced it would be paying €300-million in bonuses to 40 000 of its employees worldwide.
The announcement caused outrage in The Netherlands, as ING received a capital injection of €10-billion from the Dutch government on October 19.
The International Netherlands Group (ING) is the result of a 1992 merger of several Dutch banks and insurance companies. Its original parent company was established in 1743.
ING is active in banking, insurance and asset management and has more than 75-million customers worldwide.
In late 2007, ING had about €338-billion in saving deposits, making it the second largest retail bank worldwide, after Japanese Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. — Sapa-dpa