That’s members of the executive management committee, according to foot-soldiers at Dresdner Kleinwort, before Commerzbank arrived on the scene and started zapping everyone’s jobs and bonuses, or both.
As a group of Kleinwort bankers head for the courts, hiring Mishcon de Reya and Manches to press their case against Commerzbank alleging their new German owner reneged on a deal to distribute €400m in bonuses, it now emerges that some €150m of the bonus pot was guaranteed.
Of this, the vast majority is/was due to the 17 individuals who sat alongside Dr Jentzsch on the investment bank’s executive committee.
The majority of these – Brits as well as Germans – have now left the bank.
What’s not clear is whether the bonuses have actually been paid. We suspect not. But in any case there is clearly a rising tide of anger at Kleinwort that in its last traumatised months under the ownership of Allianz, a good portion of the available booty was being concentrated in a surprisingly small number of pockets.
No matter, because there’s an opportunity to blame the FSA here. As the crisis intensified last year, the British regulator was reportedly so worried that Kleinwort might spin out of control it demanded evidence that senior IB executives were properly tied-in.
Note: We’re lacking a full list of these committee members. Usual terms: paul.murphy@ft.com
UPDATE — see comment below
Related link:
Dresdner bankers suing for £50m in city bonuses – Evenign Standard