The head of financial services group ING Jan Hommen has made a ‘moral appeal’ to 1,200 senior managers to return variable bonuses earned in 2008, the Volkskrant reports on Monday.

In addition, ING is not currently planning to pay any bonuses this year. The decision follows increasing unease about the way banks which have been bailed out by the taxpayer are still paying bonuses to staff. ING has had a €10bn capital injection and guarantees on its risky US mortgage portfolio.
‘We will only pay variable bonuses when we have drawn up a new policy on pay,’ Hommen said in an interview with the paper. ‘But only then when the ING group is back in the black.’
Hommen also said he was very sorry about the commotion caused by the decision to give new CFO Patrick Flynn 100,000 shares as a golden hello. The shares are not a bonus, Hommen said. ‘He is being given compensation for what he leaves behind at his former employer,’ Hommen said.
ING paid out €300m in bonuses to a total of 40,000 staff last year, the paper says.