If the Danish People’s Party has its way there will be no more giant bonuses and favourable share options for bank executives – even those from banks that did not avail themselves of the Government’s financial crisis bank packages.

The party will be presenting its proposals later this week at a status meeting of the parliamentary majority that adopted the bank packages.

“Developments in the past few years have shown that the banks are so entangled in the country’s economy that it is a matter for all of society when the banks get into trouble,” says DDP spokesman Kristian Thulesen Dahl.

For this reason it is reasonable to limit the ability of all top bank executives to have share options and bonuses as part of their salary.

“This possibility contributes to making managements take too short-sighted risks,” says Thulesen Dahl.

Wider bonus restrictions
At the same the DPP also wants to restrict bonus schemes and share options to other sectors including the wind energy industry.

“Some companies basically live from specific decisions that the politicians make and which can increase their earnings,” says Thulesen Dahl. He names the wind energy industry and specifically Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel.

“If Ditlev Engel’s salary is based on a quick increase in the stock price, then I understand much better why a company like Vestas is so actively trying to make the politicians take certain political decisions,” he says.

Social Democrat support
In Parliament, the Social Democrats (SDP) support the decision to regulate the bonus and share options of all top bank executives.

“For a long time we have wanted to limit the share of bonus-based salaries in the entire financial sector. It is nice to see that the Danish People’s Party is now on board,” says SDP political spokesman Henrik Sass Larsen-

The Danish Bankers Association urges politicians to stick to international recommendations that bonus programmes should consider the long-term effect of decisions. This can be done, for instance by calculating bonuses over several years.