Credit Suisse lifted pay for CEO Tidjane Thiam in his fourth year on the job. The Swiss bank said it wished to reward the top executive for a grueling three-year restructuring.
The Swiss bank paid Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam 12.65 million Swiss francs ($12.7 million) last year, according to Credit Suisse's annual report released on Friday. This compares to 9.7 million francs last year, one year after he and other top executives at the Swiss bank were backed into taking a voluntary cut following a massive backlash.
«This adjustment is designed to acknowledge the strong performance of Mr. Thiam over the course of his tenure to date and the successful execution of the three-year restructuring
program», Credit Suisse wrote in a lengthy section on pay in the report. The pay hikes come against the backdrop of a 7 percent cut in Credit Suisse's overall pay and bonus pool to 9.6 billion francs.
Bonus to Grow?
The fillip, which comes after Thiam reversed Credit Suisse from three years of losses, keeps the French-Ivorian banker as one of Europe's best-paid bankers. Last week, UBS said it paid CEO Sergio Ermotti 14.1 million francs last year, his seventh in the job.
Specifically, Thiam earned 3 million francs in basic salary – unchanged since he began at Credit Suisse. But the bank «made him whole» with 9.3 million francs in various bonus instruments. He stands to gain another 3.2 million if a long-term bonus instrument is paid in full – which would vault him over the pay for Ermotti, Europe's best-paid banker.
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