Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has certainly caught the global spirit of the times with its proposal to disclose its levels of executive remuneration and the principles upon which those levels are based.
Bankers everywhere are having to adjust to the new realities of the post-crisis world, in which what was regarded as exorbitant pay contributed to an ethos of dangerous risk-taking. The "casino culture" of some of the biggest banking institutions threatened to tar every banker with the same brush.
On the same day that the ADCB initiative emerged, HSBC also volunteered to base its pay practices on principles agreed by the Group of 20 (G20) developed and emerging nations. For ADCB to walk voluntarily into the same camp is commendable. It is a trend that has been evident at the largest Abu Dhabi bank for some time.
Corporate governance and social responsibility programmes are firm features of their financial statements. In fact, alone in the region ADCB already discloses the basic salaries of its chairman, Eissa al Suwaidi, and other board directors on its website. The chairman gets Dh750,000 (US$204,192) per year, while his board colleagues earn Dh500,000.
Such relatively modest sums presumably do not include bonuses, which are the real crux of the problem in the rest of the world. If ADCB is serious about its new initiative, it should disclose total remuneration packages of all top employees, not just directors.
A conservatively run organisation like ADCB, with few dollar-guzzling investment bankers on its books, would have nothing to fear from such an innovative move.
@Email:fkane@thenational.ae
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
'I Want You Back'
Director:Jason Orley
Stars:Jenny Slate, Charlie Day
Rating:4/5
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
The End of Loneliness
Benedict Wells
Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins
Sceptre
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