Irish bank cancels bonuses for top staff
February 10, 2009
Dublin - Banking group Irish Life and Permanent said Monday it has scrapped bonuses for 160 senior managers and will freeze the pay of all managers at last year's levels, in response to the financial crisis.
Ireland's fourth biggest bank said the changes "reflected the challenges facing the business and the broader economy," and would include cancelling the 2008 bonuses for the group's three executive directors.
Denis Casey, Peter Fitzpatrick and Kevin Murphy received approximately 1,4-million euros (1.8 million dollars) in bonuses between them in 2007.
The measures come as governments worldwide promise action on what many people see as excessive bonuses, particularly at banks which have received taxpayers' cash.
Irish Life and Permanent has received no public money, although its deposits - like those of Ireland's other top five financial institutions - are covered by the government's two-year 485-billion-euro unlimited guarantee scheme.
The group said chairman Gillian Bowler was due to receive a salary of 420 000 euros last year, following an independent review last March, but she waived this fee and received just 288,000 euros - a 32 percent cut.
A spokesman for Irish Life and Permanent said the decisions on pay were taken at the group's initiative but it would continue to work with a government-appointed review group on senior executive pay in banking.
The government is finalising a re-capitalisation deal with the country's two biggest banks, Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland, with media speculation suggesting it will involve seven billion euros being split between them.
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said on RTE state television at the weekend that the government wanted to see "dramatic reductions" in the whole area of salaries, bonuses and remuneration. - Sapa-AFP
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