Deutsche boss nets €10m for 2009 upturn
DEUTSCHE Bank unveiled an overhaul of its compensation policy yesterday even as it paid chief executive Josef Ackermann the highest salary of any German blue-chip boss for 2009.
Ackermann took home €9.6m (£8.7m) after helping the bank bounce back to a €5bn net profit for the 12 months. The payment was part of a €39m pot shared by senior board members, including co-head of investment banking Anshu Jain who earned €7.8m for nine months’ work.
In its first compensation report since it kicked off a review of the way it rewards staff, Deutsche Bank said more than 60 per cent of key executives’ bonuses would be paid in deferred cash and shares vesting over three years.
The bank will be able to slice up to 50 per cent from employees’ bonuses retrospectively depending on their performance. Board members will hold on to 45 per cent of their shares while they remain on the board.
Although it did not take direct government help during the financial crisis, Deutsche Bank bowed to industry-wide pressure by upping the fixed portion of senior staff’s pay packages. Ackermann will see his base salary boosted 38 per cent to €1.7m to reflect permanently smaller bonuses, while board members will be paid a higher base rate of €1.2m.
Across the Frankfurt-based institution employees were paid a total €11.3bn in compensation. Of that, €2.6bn was given in bonuses to bankers in charge of unspecified “high risk positions”.
In the preface to its annual report, Ackermann said Deutsche Bank was committed to compensation that was “performance-oriented, proportionate and responsible”.