Bonuses to come back: Rabobank chief

Chairman of Directors Wout Dekker of Rabobank is expecting that banker bonuses will not be gone for long. In the annual meeting in Utrecht yesterday, Dekker said that these bonuses would have to comply with the bank's cooperative long-term goals. Dekker emphasized that this was a personal expectation, and not a concrete plan from the bank. He says he sees Europe and The Netherlands developing in the direction where the re-introduction of the bonus system in banks will make a return. "And you do not have to expect that Rabobank will lead the charge on this, we will probably follow." Dekker's comment comes shortly after it was announced that the bank is scrapping all bonuses for the top and the collective labour agreement personnel. Dekker insists that this relates to short-term bonuses, which he says do not fit with the bank's cooperative model. Interim-Chairman of the Board Rinus Minderhoud announced a 13 percent raise for the steady salaries of senior managers per January of this year to compensate for the srapping of the bonuses, which could run up to 40 percent of the salary. Staff under collective labour agreement haven't received bonuses since last year. Unions were able to compensate for this with a sum varying between 9.5 and 17.5 percent of the salary. ABN Amro announced on Wednesday that it is raising senior management position salaries by 20 percent, in compensation for the scrapping of bonuses. This led to a lot of indignation in Parliament.