Pay for Credit Suisse top management including CEO Tidjane Thiam is reportedly poised to surge, despite a share price drop last year. Meanwhile the staff bonus pool for 2018 appears flat.
Credit Suisse has frozen its 2018 bonus pool while awarding its top executives double-digit pay rises, the «Financial Times» (behind paywall) reported late on Thursday.
The Swiss bank’s overall pool of bonuses will remain flat at about 3.2 billion Swiss francs ($3.19 billion), according to the newspaper. However, its top executives including CEO Tidjane Thiam are set to earn «tens of millions of francs» more, after ditching voluntary limits of the last two years.
Reversal of Pay
Pay is a touchy subject in banking, and even more so at Credit Suisse. Two years ago, Thiam and Chairman Urs Rohner were forced into an embarrassing volte-face from original pay plans following a massive backlash, as finews.com reported.
The executive pay boost for 2018 comes after Thiam concludes a grueling three-year restructuring of Credit Suisse. The 56-year-old and 11 other top executives could earn up to 115 million Swiss francs ($114.8 million) combined if they hit performance targets – up dramatically from 70 million francs and 73 million francs in 2017 and 2016, respectively.
Stock Languished
However, the amount actually awarded is expected to be less than 95 million francs, one person told the newspaper. Investors have hardly acknowledged Thiam's success in restoring Credit Suisse to health: the stock fell nearly 30 percent in the last year.
The idea that Credit Suisse keeps a lid on staff bonuses while management reap the financial gains is likely to cause considerable debate within the bank. It may disclose its overall bonus pool when reporting annual results on February 14.
