(Bloomberg) --
Deutsche Bank AG is considering scrapping bonuses for top management this year as regulators urge banks to preserve capital and keep lending through the coronavirus pandemic.
Cutting bonuses is just one possibility and the company is also looking at alternative measures that wouldn't involve variable compensation, according to a person familiar with the matter. A decision could be announced as early as this week, the person said, asking not to be identified because the discussion is private.
Deutsche Bank declined to comment.
A growing number of European banks are waiving bonuses for top management as regulators urge them to exercise constraint and retain funds for lending after being granted large-scale relief on capital requirements. Spanish lenders were among the first to move, with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA on Monday saying that 300 of its top executives waived their 2020 bonuses. Italy's UniCredit SpA followed suit late Tuesday.
“Banks, shareholders, managers and key risk takers should also take part in the rethink of where we are right now and try to preserve as much capital as possible,” Andrea Enria, the European Central Bank's top banking watchdog, said Tuesday. “Our recommendation to banks is to be very moderate on” bonuses.
Deutsche Bank scrapped bonuses for the management board under John Cryan, its chief executive officer from 2015 until early 2018. His successor Christian Sewing re-instituted them for 2018 and paid another one earlier this year despite recording an annual loss of 5.7 billion euros ($6.2 billion).
A labor union representing bank workers has warned that broad-based bonus cuts could also hit low-paid staff.
“We oppose a general bonus cut because the bonus pool doesn't only include staff with very high salaries,” Stephan Szukalski, a representative for the DBV union who also sits on Deutsche Bank AG's supervisory board, said Tuesday. “Many medium- to low-income earners -- of which there are many in Deutsche Bank -- have made a contribution over the past years through the previous cuts.”
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