Dresdner Bank Pays Top Bosses 58 Mln Eur In Crisis

Much of the money at Dresdner Bank -- 24 million euros -- was paid to its managers after the board was disbanded.

Dresdner Bank paid its top management more than 58 million euros ($77.7 million) last year after its losses hit 6 billion, making the bank's board one of the best paid in Europe as the global financial crisis peaked.

The windfall at the investment and retail bank, revealed in the annual report of its new owner Commerzbank on Friday, is in stark contrast to the shrinking pay packets in bank board rooms around the City of London and the continent.

One of the region's biggest banks, Deutsche Bank paid its board members just 4.5 million euros last year.

Much of the money at Dresdner Bank -- 24 million euros -- was paid to its managers after the board was disbanded following Commerzbank's takeover of the group.

Stefan Jentzsch, in charge of investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort, and Dresdner's chief executive Herbert Walter received the highest payouts on the nine-strong board, one insider told Reuters.

A spokesman for Jentzsch confirmed he was paid 7.5 million euros on leaving the group, while Walter, one of Germany's highest-paid and best-known bankers, received a 3.6 million golden handshake.

"Jentzsch did not ask to leave Dresdner Bank. He was made redundant," said a spokesman for the banker. "He did not receive a bonus for 2008 or 2007 and did not ask for one. Commerzbank chose to pay 7.5 million euros to honour his contract."

Walter declined to take a bonus.

The payouts stoked controversy in Germany because Berlin has bankrolled an 18 billion euro rescue of Commerzbank. It had run into trouble after its ill-timed swoop on Dresdner -- signed on the eve of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

"They should have made sure from the start that this bonus would not be paid from tax money," Otto Solms, a finance expert at the pro-business Free Democrats, told Reuters.

Dresdner Kleinwort, one of London's best-known banks, is now being scaled back dramatically by its new owner.