By Ambereen Choudhury and Aaron Kirchfeld Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, introduced a sliding scale forcing top bankers to defer a bigger proportion of their bonuses, said two people with direct knowledge of the plan. The rule applies to 2009 bonuses of more than 100,000 euros ($136,000), said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the plan is private. Bankers will have to defer at least 25 percent of bonuses above that amount, the people said. The marginal deferral rate will increase to as much as 90 percent as the bonus crosses a series of thresholds. Governments in Europe and the U.S. are facing pressure to limit bankers’ compensation after financial firms were bailed out by taxpayers during the credit crisis. Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann, who warned of a regulatory and political “backlash” if his industry doesn’t change pay policies, reiterated this month he would bring the company’s compensation policy into line with the Group of 20’s principles. The plan “is linked to global banking behavior and not wanting to be out of line with everyone else,” said Chris Roebuck, a visiting professor at Cass Business School in London. In all, managing directors may have about 50 percent to 70 percent of their bonus deferred, one of the people said. About 75 percent of the deferred compensation will be in stock and 25 percent in cash. The equity portion will be paid over a period of almost four years, and the cash portion over three years. Pay Deferred A “significant portion” of pay will be deferred under the new compensation plan, the bank said on Feb. 4. Ackermann said that day he expects industry pay to decline in coming years. Deutsche Bank, which didn’t need state aid, is increasing employees’ fixed pay by 5 percent to 30 percent, in turn reducing bonus payments by an equal amount. The bank may also claw back bonus payments in the event of losses, including from managing directors. Deutsche Bank spokesman Ronald Weichert declined to comment, referring to the company’s Feb. 4 statement on pay. The lender is scheduled to report more details on compensation, including the amount paid in bonuses, in March. The German bank booked costs of 225 million euros for the U.K. bonus tax. Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank reported this month a fourth straight quarterly profit, a year after posting a record loss. The company set aside about 357,000 euros last year in compensation and benefits for each employee at the corporate and investment bank, which includes the securities business and transaction banking. Total compensation and benefits at the unit amounted to 5.06 billion euros. Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history, will cap the salary and bonuses of its London partners at 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) amid anger about the size of investment bankers’ pay, said a person familiar with the situation in January. The decision will affect about 100 employees in London, the person said. Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, also plans to cut the cash component of investment bankers’ bonuses to about 15 percent, four people familiar with matter said in January. G20 leaders agreed in September in Pittsburgh to adopt guidelines on pay practices at banks and other financial companies that aim to curb risks by aligning rewards with long- term success. The guidelines discourage bonus guarantees longer than one year, encourage companies to defer bonuses for senior executives and other key employees and enable pay to be clawed back if losses occur at a later date. To contact the reporters on this story: Ambereen Choudhury in London achoudhury@bloomberg.net; Aaron Kirchfeld in Frankfurt at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net

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