The Financial Times has today reported that Ireland’s minister for financial services has insisted a banking pay cap should remain in force in spite of mounting pressure from lenders who want the policy scrapped after blaming it for the loss of top staff.
According to the report, the finance ministry has been considering expert advice on whether to waive the €500,000 pay cap at state-supported banks, including AIB and Bank of Ireland, the two largest lenders.
"The senior executives are on very large salaries and as long as the state owns [their banks], I’m satisfied the pay caps are appropriate," Michael D’Arcy told the FT in an interview in New York, describing bankers’ pay as "the very very top percentile of salaries in Ireland."
"We have come through a pretty difficult decade — banking bonuses, as you know prior to the previous collapse, they were not a helpful factor," he added.
Source: www.businessworld.ie