{"id":313486,"date":"2026-02-23T19:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T19:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/313486\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T19:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T19:44:08","slug":"double-standards-row-as-lagarde-receives-e140000-from-bis-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/313486\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Double standards\u2019 row as Lagarde receives \u20ac140,000 from BIS \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christine Lagarde receives about \u20ac140,000 a year as a Bank for International Settlements board member despite a European Central Bank<\/a> ban on third-party payments to staff.<\/p>\n

Some ECB employees, using internal message boards, have complained about the apparent double standard in the treatment of the president\u2019s remuneration from the BIS, an institution for central banks created in 1930.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreach water, drink wine!\u201d wrote one ECB staff member according to screenshots seen by the FT.<\/p>\n

Lagarde is one of the 18 global top central bankers sitting on the BIS board of directors. While all of them are entitled to annual fixed pay and variable attendance fees, the BIS does not disclose payments individually.<\/p>\n

But in a written answer to German MEP Fabio De Masi and his Swedish colleague Dick Erixon, Lagarde disclosed for the first time on Friday that she received 130,457 Swiss francs from the BIS in 2025, which is about \u20ac140,000. <\/p>\n

In 2024, she received a basic ECB salary of \u20ac466,000 plus \u20ac135,000 in fringe benefits. Her estimated total remuneration of about \u20ac741,000 makes Lagarde the best-paid EU official.<\/p>\n

Other central banks treat BIS remuneration differently. Fed chief Jay Powell and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey do not claim their BIS pay, in the Fed\u2019s case because US law prohibits officials from accepting money from a foreign institution.<\/p>\n

Banque de France, which is one of the few central banks that discloses its governor\u2019s BIS remuneration, reclaims half of the fixed pay for the institution.<\/p>\n

ECB staff discussed a recent FT article on Lagarde\u2019s pay in an internal web forum only accessible for employees, pointing out that the central bank\u2019s internal rules prohibit staff from receiving third-party remuneration.<\/p>\n

According to the ECB staff rules, employees must not accept \u201cany payments from third parties in respect of the performance of their professional duties\u201d, adding that if such payments are offered, they \u201cshall be made to the ECB\u201d.<\/p>\n

The central bank told the FT that its president \u201cis not a staff member\u201d and hence \u201cnot covered by the staff rules\u201d, adding that she is instead \u201csubject to a dedicated code of conduct for high-level ECB officials\u201d.<\/p>\n

One anonymous entry, seen by the FT, argued that Lagarde received external pay \u201cfor activities that seem to be part of her professional duties as ECB president. This is not allowed by ECB rules, at least for regular staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a second post, the central bank\u2019s human resources department told an ECB employee who was inquiring about a joint BIS project that they were not allowed to accept additional remuneration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe mortals can\u2019t take the BIS allowance,\u201d a third post read.<\/p>\n

The ECB told the FT that its staff \u201ccannot accept remuneration for activities they perform exercising their ECB task\u201d. According to a person familiar with the matter, this includes an ECB staffer who is accompanying Lagarde to BIS board meetings and cannot accept pay offered by the BIS.<\/p>\n

The central bank told the FT that Lagarde\u2019s case was different as the president role as a BIS board member entailed \u201cparticipating in BIS governance decisions, carrying governance responsibilities and related legal risks. In view of these responsibilities, the president receives a remuneration paid by the BIS.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ECB said staff members involved in BIS activities \u201cdo not have comparable governance and legal responsibilities [as Lagarde] and therefore according to the staff rules cannot accept remuneration for these activities\u201d.<\/p>\n

People familiar with the matter told the FT that Lagarde followed the practice of her predecessors, Mario Draghi and Jean-Claude Trichet, who also claimed the BIS allowance. Draghi and Trichet declined to comment.<\/p>\n

The central bank added that staffers can receive pay \u201cfor external activities not related to their ECB tasks and outside of the ECB, if they obtained prior written authorisation and do that during their free time\u201d. <\/p>\n

In a \u201cvery limited\u201d number of cases, such permissions were granted for BIS projects that covered areas other than \u201cECB tasks\u201d, the institution added.<\/p>\n

The ECB\u2019s staff criticism reflects wider unease about the institution\u2019s internal governance. Last summer, the bank\u2019s staff committee accused leadership of running an \u201cunaccountable legal fortress\u201d.<\/p>\n

ECB\u2019s treatment of staff had led to \u201cwidespread complaints of favouritism …\u2009high burnout rates and the vulnerability of many colleagues working under temporary contracts\u201d.<\/p>\n

In October, the union that represents ECB staff filed a lawsuit against the institution, accusing it of \u201ccensorship\u201d and \u201cintimidation\u201d in the latest escalation of a bitter feud about labour relations.<\/p>\n

The ECB declined to comment on the court case. It told the FT at the time that it was \u201cfirmly committed to the freedom of expression and the rule of law\u201d, offering staff \u201cmultiple channels, including an anonymous whistleblowing tool\u201d to \u201censure that any unacceptable behaviour is investigated and addressed swiftly\u201d. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christine Lagarde receives about \u20ac140,000 a year as a Bank for International Settlements board member despite a European…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,14724,12965,61,60],"class_list":["post-313486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-christine-lagarde","tag-european-central-bank-ecb","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}