Finance minister requests review of Dexia bankers' pay increase

Federal finance minister Koen Geens has called on the board of directors of Dexia bank to review a reported 30% salary increase awarded to three of its executives. The increases put the trio on annual salaries of €450,000.

The troubled bank was taken over by the French and Belgian governments after receiving a massive €5.5 billion bailout in 2012. The board was criticised at the time for awarding CEO Karel De Boeck an annual salary of €600,000, which exceeded French government limits.   

Geens has met with De Boeck (pictured) and French finance minister Pierre Moscovici to discuss the pay awards, he said in a statement. “This exercise should take into account the public's justified sensitivity in terms of ethics, new Belgian rules on pay awards to executives employed by banks that receive state aid and the need for talented executives to minimise losses for taxpayers,” he said.

Dexia came close to collapse in 2011, leading to fears that it could bring down the eurozone.

De Boeck said that the salary increase will be done “creatively” through a number of benefits and that the gross earnings does not reflect the actual net salaries. “We have not given them a 30% salary increase,” he told De Standaard. “We’re not crazy.”

photo: Yves Herman/Reuters/Corbis