ING boosts executive salary after bonus restrictions

ING wants to give CEO Ralph Hamers a wage increase of more than 28 percent, NRC reports based on the annual report ING published today. If the supervisory board approves this wage increase, his salary will increase from 1.27 million last year to 1.63 million in 2015. The other members of the executive board, CFO Patrick Flynn and CRO Wilfred Nagel, also stand to get a salary increase from 772 thousand euros to 1.18 million euros. They can earn an additional 20 percent for good performance. The Executive Board's salaries have not been increased since 2009. As the bank made use of State aid, they could not pay bonuses, not even for good performance. The unions were shocked by these salary increases. According to CNV, "the culture of greed looks back with a vengeance", NRC reports. ING expressed their concern about the new bonus ceiling in the Netherlands in their annual report. From February there is a new law that reduces bankers' bonuses to 20 percent of their fixed salary. According to the bank, this law creates an uneven playing field.