The one-year salary cap on bank executive bonuses announced this week does not include loyalty pay-outs and golden hello deals, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Friday.

The paper bases its claims on information from the Dutch banking association NVB which drew up the code of conduct, due to come into effect on January 1.
Nevertheless, the NVB says banks do not have a free hand to agree huge retention and welcome bonuses. ‘They still fall under the code. The supervisory board has to make sure they fit in with the bank’s renumeration policy,’ Johanneke Weitjens told the paper.
The code of conduct was criticised by a number of MPs on Wednesday, who said it did not go far enough. ‘It is on the thin side,’ Christian Democrat financial spokeswoman Elly Blanksma said.