The chief executive officer of French bank Natixis SA (KN.FR) earned a total of EUR1.01 million in salary and bonus for the period of about seven and a half months that he worked in 2009, according to the bank's annual report.

Laurent Mignon, who took up the post on May 14, earned EUR507,098 in salary for 2009. His annual salary is EUR800,000.

The Natixis board of directors decided to pay Mignon a bonus of EUR500,000, based on "quantitative and qualitative criteria" including underlying net profit, control of risk weighted assets, foresight and decision-making, according to the document.

Under Mignon, Natixis has returned to profit in the past two quarters after a string of losses. The bank has benefited from a guarantee of its riskiest assets from parent bank BPCE, whose CEO, Francois Perol, is also chairman of Natixis.

On a pro-rata basis for 2009, Mignon's total remuneration earned is above that of Societe Generale SA's (GLE.FR) Chief Executive Frederic Oudea, but below that of Baudouin Prot, the CEO of BNP Paribas SA (BNP.FR), the largest French bank by market value. Oudea declined to receive a bonus for 2009.

French banks generally pay top executives significantly less than some of their largest European rivals, such as Deutsche Bank AG (DB) and Credit Suisse Group (CS).

Thirty-seven percent of Mignon's bonus is frozen pending "confirmation of Natixis' recovery" in the first quarter of 2010. Natixis will report first-quarter earnings May 11.

The remaining 63% of the bonus will be deferred for three years "subject to performance requirements linked to Natixis' results." It will also be index-linked to Natixis shares, according to the document.

-By Jethro Mullen, Dow Jones Newswires; 33 1 4017 1738; jethro.mullen@dowjones.com
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