Deutsche Bank is under fire after it was revealed that the compensation of its Chief Executive Officer, Christian Sewing, rose 46% in 2020 amid the global pandemic.
Deutsche Bank paid CEO Sewing $7.4 million euros ($8.8 million U.S.) in 2020, up 46% from a year earlier. The hefty pay increase has drawn widespread criticism from unions and politicians throughout Europe.
The global bank’s bonus pool was up 29% for last year as it rewarded staff for a pandemic-related trading boom that enabled the German lender to achieve a profit despite the pandemic.
Disclosure of Sewing’s compensation came in Deutsche Bank’s annual report as the lender forecast that its revenue would be “marginally lower” in 2021. In Germany, which is facing an election year and where the public disapproves of high executive pay, the Verdi labour union called Sewing’s pay “grossly disproportionate.”
Last year marked a turnaround for Deutsche Bank and Sewing, who took up his post in 2018, after the bank faced a series of costly regulatory failings, including over money laundering. Deutsche Bank had lost $8.2 billion euros in the past decade.
Its 2020, net profit attributable to shareholders was $113 million euros after a loss of $5.7 billion euros the year before as a surge in investment banking earnings offset weakness in other business lines.
Deutsche Bank handed out bonuses to senior executives as workers at the bank’s call centres strike over demands for higher wages. Some call centre workers earn as little as $12 euros an hour, according to the union.