Austrian Bonuses, Class Actions, ‘Obscene’ Carry: Compliance

Austria, whose banks’ combined bonus pool is a sixth the size of the figure for Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG, is putting restrictions on bonuses exceeding 30,000 euros ($40,000) from this year.

Bonuses paid to “risk buyers” such as traders or loan officers that are above this level or equivalent to more than a quarter of the annual fixed salary must be deferred over a five-year period, the co-head of the Finanzmarktaufsicht regulator, Helmut Ettl, told journalists in Vienna yesterday. If the bank’s economic situation worsens during the five-year period, payments have to be skipped, Ettl said. The rules apply for the first time for bonuses paid this year for fiscal 2012.