Central bank chief Nout Wellink could have taken action on the massive bonuses paid to some of those working in the financial services sector, former finance minister Gerrit Zalm told a government inquiry on Friday.

Zalm was facing questions from the De Wit commission, set up to look at the causes and effect of the financial crisis in the Netherlands.
‘In 2007, the central bank did not get involved with wages policy. In the meantime it has, even though the law has not changed,’ the Financieele Dagblad quoted Zalm as saying. The rewards policy in the financial sector, which led bankers to take high risks, is one reason for the crisis, Zalm said.
Zalm was finance minister in several governments before joining DSB bank in 2007. Since February last year he has been in charge of merging nationalised banks ABN Amro and Fortis into a single entity.
According to news agency ANP, Zalm admitted that he too had under-estimated the effect of bonuses on bankers’ behaviour.
Zalm told the committee that the main reason for the crisis is the low capital requirements placed on banks. The fact that the Basel committee, a European body which coordinates banking rules, had never increased its capital demands was a ‘missed chance’ Zalm said.