Commerzbank chief faces investor fury despite pay cut

Germany's third biggest quoted banking group Commerzbank yesterday became the latest of the country's blue chip corporations to lift the lid on executive pay.

But even news of a pay cut for chief executive Klaus-Peter Müller was not enough to deflect shareholder anger at the annual meeting.

In a year that saw Commerzbank run up the first full-year loss in its 130-year history, Mr Müller earned €1.225m (£878,800), down from €1.345m the previous year.

According to the bank Mr Müller earned a basic salary of €540,000 and the rest was made up of a bonus payment. "The bank's results were not too good so the bonus has gone down," said a spokesman.

At the annual meeting one shareholder, 75-year-old Wolfgang Berg, won applause when he claimed: "We're dealing with a clique of rip-off merchants."

Other shareholders criticised the board over the fall in the share price, which has almost halved in value since the beginning of 2001. The directors also came under fire for lacking a clear strategy. Commerzbank has been at the centre of persistent bid speculation in recent years, most recently with fellow struggler - Munich-based HVB - but so far without result.

Mr Müller said he sympathised with shareholders' concerns about the bank's performance but argued the combination of cost cutting and a sharper focus on Commerzbank's core operations would see the group back on "a successful course". Despite the continued problems with the German economy Commerzbank is hoping to be back in the black this year.

Commerzbank is the tenth of the top 30 German companies to accept calls for greater disclosure on directors' pay, including hints from the German government that it could force companies to publish details if they did not cooperate voluntarily. The pressure has been increased as a result of the lacklustre performance of a number of companies and a weakened economy.

The initiative has not been met with universal enthusiasm. Helmut Panke, head of BMW, was quoted this week as saying disclosure would not prove particularly beneficial and could lead to greater state intervention on corporate pay.