Sergio Ermotti's pay edged higher last year. The Swiss bank's 11-person management took home nearly 100 million Swiss francs total.
He looks set to remain one of Europe's best-paid bankers: UBS' long-standing CEO Sergio Ermotti took home 14.2 million Swiss francs last year, a 3.6 percent rise over 2016.
Pay is a closely-watched topic for top bankers and CEOs in Switzerland, which passed executive pay caps in 2013. Despite earning more, Ermotti has largely escaped the scathing criticism that his crosstown rival Tidjane Thiam and Credit Suisse has been subject to over bonuses.
Sharing It Around
Ermotti and his ten top management colleagues took home a breathtaking total of 99,891,566 francs last year. The bank only discloses specifics on pay for its top earner – the CEO in this case. The total makes clear that UBS is also awarding top executives like private bank co-heads Martin Blessing and Tom Naratil and Asia boss Kathy Shih very well.
Last year, Ermotti doubled the «immediate cash» portion of his bonus to 2 million francs on the year. While his fixed salary was steady at 2.8 million francs, Ermotti's various bonus awards fluctuated. All told, his paycheck last year was 498,684 francs higher than in 2016.
Credit Suisse Conundrum
The total puts Ermotti, who has run UBS since 2011 and is the force behind its departure from riskier parts of investment banking in favor of wealth management, within striking distance of a sonic pay barrier, as finews.com wrote earlier this week.
Credit Suisse will disclose pay for CEO Thiam and other top executives on March 23. Last year, that bank's top management backed down on an originally planned bonus scheme amid an outcry from institutional as well as retail investors.
This year's reading will be closely-watched because Credit Suisse posted its third consecutive loss despite nearing the end of a largely successful restructuring under Thiam.
