Dutch want to extend banks bonus ban to insurer ASR

AMSTERDAM Feb 6 (Reuters) - A ban on bonuses at Dutch financial institutions which received state aid should be extended to include state-owned insurer ASR as well, a majority of political parties in the Dutch parliament said on Monday.

The Netherlands paid out nearly 40 billion euros ($53 billion)to rescue its domestic financial sector when the credit crisis swept the globe in 2008. But the recovery in 2010, and proposals to reward executives at ING last year, led to widespread public anger and prompted proposals for tougher legislation.

The government announced a ban on bonuses for executives last year for financial institutions which received state aid. The ban did not apply to ASR, which was nationalised in 2008 as part of the bailout of financial groups Fortis and ABN AMRO.

"It cannot be that taxpayers' support drains away in the form of variable pay. We can't justify that," Matthijs Huizing, a Liberal Party member of parliament, said during a debate with the finance minister over financial regulation.

Dutch bank and insurer ING, which received 10 billion euros in state aid in 2008, attracted widespread public and political condemnation last year when it said it would pay bonuses of up to 1.25 million euros to its executives.

Days later, ING cancelled the payments.

The Dutch government nationalised the Dutch operations of ABN AMRO and Fortis in October 2008 and gave capital injections to ING, Aegon and SNS Reaal.

Opposition parties last week proposed a complete ban on bonuses across all wage groups at all banks and insurers because they said variable pay created the wrong kind of incentive. However, the proposal is unlikely to attract majority support in parliament.

Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager will reply later on Monday during the debate. ($1=0.7621 euros) (Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Greg Mahlich)