Former ING CEO Ralph Hamers has been through the disciplinary court rebuked on appeal because he wanted to almost double his remuneration in 2018, to more than three million euros. In doing so, he has ‘damaged society’s trust in the bank’. Two commissioners from the time have also been reprimanded for neglecting their ‘exemplary role’. The three have damaged the banker’s oath by trying to raise Hamers’ salary.
According to the ANP news agency, the fact that it remains with a reprimand and Hamers is not banned from his profession is because the appeals committee of the disciplinary court for bankers had not previously determined how broadly the code of conduct for bankers should be interpreted. Moreover, the attempted wage increase was five years ago, and Hamers and his associates were extensively in the news because of the affair.
Wrong throat
Hamers was chairman of the board of ING from 2013 to 2020. He was already known for his high salaries during that period. When the Supervisory Board wanted to increase its salary in 2018, society and politics went down the wrong way. His salary remained 1.6 million euros.
The fuss was largely due to the fact that ING had become embroiled in a major money laundering scandal, partly under the leadership of Hamers. “Customers who engaged in criminal activities have been able to use bank accounts at ING Netherlands virtually undisturbed for many years”, wrote the Public Prosecution Service in a press release at the time. ING reached a settlement with the judiciary for 775 million euros. Hamers is being prosecuted in the Netherlands for his role in the money laundering scandal.
Hamers was director of the Swiss bank UBS from 2020 to this month. Under his leadership, the bank took over its ailing competitor Credit Suisse for next to nothing under pressure from the Swiss government. After the closing of the deal, he was replaced as chief executive. Hamers received a substantial bonus for 2022. He received the equivalent of 12.7 million euros.