Philippe Vollot joined the Executive Board in early October as a Financial Economic Crime Officer. In this newly formed position, he is responsible for combating money laundering in banks.

money laundering

The 56-year-old Frenchman worked at Deutsche Bank between 2003 and 2018, where he was heavily involved in fighting fraud and money laundering. He then moves to Danske Bank, which is embroiled in a painful money laundering scandal. In the end, Danish banks had to pay several billion euros in settlements and fines.

Vollot’s experience turned out to be invaluable to Rabobank. From today annual report the bank points out that bankers don’t just get a generous base salary. He can also directly collect a number of fat premiums while in office.

A bold base salary

In three months working for Rabo last year, Vollot earned a base salary of 337,000 euros. That converts to no less than 1.35 million euros per year. In comparison, CEO Wiebe Draijer, who left in October, receives an annual base salary of 980,000 euros.

Furthermore, the remuneration section of the annual report shows that Vollot was also able to pocket a signing premium of 300,000 euros while in office. To compensate for the missing bonuses at his former employer, he received an additional 398,000 euros.

Moving costs

Despite his generous salary and bonuses, Vollot can’t seem to be able to pay the moving costs out of pocket. Rabobank also paid him another 10,000 euros in moving costs, and more than 19,000 euros in temporary housing costs.

On the other hand, Rabobank may be in dire need of knowledge from a new anti-fraud manager. Last December it was announced that Rabo was being considered a suspect by the Prosecutor’s Office due to insufficient money laundering controls.

Previously, Dutch banks ING and ABN Amro had received hefty fines for negligence in laundering checks. In 2018, ING paid the Public Prosecution Service a settlement amounting to 775 million euros. In 2021, ABN Amro will have to pay a fine of 480 million euros.

Rabo continued to pay the former CEO for a year

The annual report also indicates that Rabobank will not let Wiebe Draijer, who resigned in October, walk away empty-handed.

In the fall of 2021, the bank had announced that Draijer wanted to say goodbye to 2022 of his own accord. Although the chairman of the board chooses himself, Rabobank prepares a generous severance package.

Turns out Turnjer would be staying at work for another six months after his departure as chairman of the board to settle some business. The six month notice period will go into effect from April. This means that the bank will continue to pay the former CEO for another year. That’s a lot of documents. Draijer earns an annual salary including pension contributions of more than 1.2 million euros.