The former boss of Germany's Dresdner Bank AG plans to forgo a large severance payment following sharp criticism of generous rewards for managers of the loss-making bank, according to a report Sunday.
The Bild am Sonntag newspaper said the payment to Herbert Walter was worth 3.6 million (nearly $4.8 million).
"Considering the massive impact of the financial market crisis on Dresdner Bank, I am forgoing this payoff," Walter was quoted as telling the newspaper.
An annual report released Friday showed that the nine former board members at Dresdner Bank, whose sale to Commerzbank AG was completed in January, earned a total of some 58 million in 2008 _ 24 million of that in severance pay.
Even without the severance payments, the remaining 33.8 million was 25 percent more than the managers received in 2007 _ although Dresdner Bank lost 6.3 billion last year.
"These people, who want to belong to our country's economic elite, cause serious damage to our social system with such indecent behavior," Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck was quoted as telling Bild's Saturday edition.
Chancellor Angela Merkel called for managers to show "a bit of decency" in a speech Saturday.
"I am, again and again, appalled at the nonchalance with which some think they can allow themselves bonuses for bad performances," Merkel said, without mentioning directly the Dresdner Bank payments.
The pay for the former Dresdner Bank managers contrasted with a large drop in earnings for bosses at new owner Commerzbank, in which the German government has taken a stake.
Commerzbank's top managers saw their pay drop by 65 percent last year to a total 4.3 million, Friday's report showed.
