Trichet sees bumpy recovery, warns banks over pay

The euro zone economy faces a bumpy road to recovery with banks facing a new round of writedowns in the wake of the recession, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Tuesday. "The real economy is back to growth but we don't declare it (crisis) over. It is a bumpy road ahead, we have the sentiment that growth remains modest and we have to remain alert," Trichet said in an interview with Europarltv, a television channel of the European Parliament. He rebuffed suggestions that as much as half of banks' investments could be classified as toxic assets, but fired a warning shot over dividends and bonuses. "We call upon them to put aside their profits and not to embark on large dividends over that period... We also call on them to be very careful in terms of remuneration, packages, bonuses and so forth." He said the recession would create a new round of problems. "There are a number of write-offs, because of the recession, ahead of us," Trichet said.