Banker donates Credit Suisse salary to charity

FT
By Scheherazade Daneshkhu and Stefan Wagstyl

Published: March 13 2005 21:42 The top banker at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the multilateral government-owned bank for the former Communist bloc, has decided to give to charity her pay from a part-time non-executive directorship at Credit Suisse Group, the Swiss bank, after questions were raised about potential conflicts of interest.

The EBRD disclosed the decision on Sunday, after the Financial Times talked to Noreen Doyle, the EBRD's first vice president, last week about the Credit Suisse job she accepted in 2004. She earns £264,000 (€377,700) a year tax-free at the EBRD and has been paid SFr350,000 (€226,000) annually by Credit Suisse in stock for attending six board meetings a year.

The EBRD's code of conduct prohibits employees from working elsewhere, whether or not there are potential conflicts of interest. But the code allows Jean Lemierre, the EBRD president, to make exceptions.

The bank, founded to help finance the transition from communism in eastern Europe, lost Jacques Attali, its first president, after intense criticism about the bank's expenses, including money lavished on marble at its London headquarters.

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