UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti saw his pay drop last year. The chairman of Switzerland’s biggest bank, Axel Weber, however received a higher remuneration.
Sergio Ermotti received 13.7 million Swiss francs in compensation in 2016, the highest amount of any member of the UBS executive, the annual report of the banking giant published today showed. In 2015, Ermotti had take home 14.3 million.
UBS' top management earned 97.87 million francs in all last year, up from 93.41 million in the year-earlier period. Part of the reason for the increase was the change from Lukas Gaehwiler to Martin Blessing as head of the Swiss business and the larger executive board in 2016 (12 instead of 10).
Slower Business
Ermotti’s smaller compensation package reflects UBS' slower growth in 2016; the Asia business in particular as well as banking with the ultra-rich eased. Net new money also was disappointing in some regions.
UBS executives like private bank head Juerg Zeltner said last year that the bank would have to get used to more reluctant customers and that the peak of banking had been reached. Pay seems to be falling as a result, but the drop for CEO Ermotti is still minor.
Weber Wins
By contrast, chairman Axel Weber received more money for his efforts. He earned 6.07 million francs, up from 6.03 million a year earlier. The increase was due to extra or fringe payments, according to the report. The supervisory board of the bank in total received 13.2 million francs, up from 12.8 million a year earlier.
The report also lists loans granted to members of the executive and board members. Asset management boss Ulrich Koerner had the biggest loan last year, with 10.6 million francs, up from 8.3 million a year earlier. The executive had loans outstanding totaling 37.1 million francs, up from 29 million a year earlier.
Two board members received a loan from the bank: Reto Francioni and William Parrett, with 600,000 francs and 3.1 million francs respectively – more or less unchanged from 2015.
