ECB President Lagarde's External Pay Scrutinized
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is facing scrutiny over receiving €142,700 from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) despite ECB pay limitations. The payment has sparked discussions regarding central banking ethics and compensation standards for high-level economic policymakers.
- Internal ECB staff rules prohibit employees from accepting "any payments from third parties in relation to the exercise of their professional duties," and state that any such offered payments should be handed over to the ECB. - Some ECB employees have complained on internal message boards about a perceived "double standard," with one post noting "We mortals cannot take the BIS allowance." - The ECB's official position is that its president is "not a member of staff" and is subject to a separate code of conduct. The bank argues the BIS board role involves governance responsibilities and legal risks not comparable to those of staff members. - This practice is not new; Lagarde's predecessors, Mario Draghi and Jean-Claude Trichet, also received compensation for their board roles at the BIS. - In contrast, the Chair of the US Federal Reserve is prohibited by US law from accepting compensation from a foreign institution and receives no extra pay for serving on the BIS board. The Governor of the Bank of England also does not claim their BIS pay. - The payment from the BIS is part of a larger compensation package; in 2024, Lagarde's basic ECB salary was €466,000, supplemented by an estimated €135,000 in benefits, bringing her total estimated remuneration to around €726,000 before the BIS payment. - The exact amount of the BIS payment for 2025, 130,457 Swiss francs (about €140,000), was disclosed by Lagarde for the first time in a written statement to German Member of the European Parliament Fabio De Masi.
