Bonus of contention
October 21, 2009
The investment bankers wanted bonuses ranging from 30,000 to 450,000 euros ($44,000-672,000) and dating back to last year while they were working for Dresdner Bank, now a subsidiary of Commerzbank.
The labor court in Frankfurt ruled on Wednesday that the 13 plaintiffs were not entitled to higher bonus payments from Commerzbank.
The plaintiffs had based their claims on letters sent out by Dresdner Bank in December 2008 in which potential bonus payments of up to 90 percent were announced.
The court said that in principle the investment bankers were entitled to bonus payments, but that the bank's letters were not binding, indicating that bonuses must be linked to the company's economic success.
At the beginning of 2009 it emerged that Dresdner Bank had suffered losses of about 5.7 billion euros in 2008, forcing Commerzbank to slash the announced bonus payments to 10 percent.
Commerzbank, which is Germany's second largest private bank, announced the takeover of Dresdner Bank in August 2008. The move further burdened Commerzbank which ran into serious financial difficulties in the wake of the global credit squeeze.
nk/AFP/dpa
Editor: Michael Lawton