UBS Cuts Variable Compensation Expenses to $3 Billion for 2014
(Bloomberg) — UBS Group AG said variable compensation expenses declined in 2014, when Switzerland’s biggest bank was fined for attempts to manipulate currency markets.
Variable compensation costs, including some awards for previous years, fell 6.7 percent to 2.8 billion Swiss francs ($3 billion) from 3 billion francs the previous year, the Zurich- based bank said in a web presentation on Tuesday. The bank didn’t disclose the total amount of the bonus pool awarded, which includes compensation deferred into future years.
UBS was fined about $800 million in November by regulators in Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. for trying to rig currency markets. The bank was also ordered to cap bonuses for foreign- exchange and precious-metals bankers. UBS still needs to settle the matter with the U.S. Department of Justice, which is said to have widened its currency market probe to include structured products banks sold to clients.
The bank said last month it will make about 500 million francs of deferred bonus awards in bonds that can be wiped out if its capital falls below a predefined level.
UBS made changes to the bonds awarded to employees to allow them to qualify as Tier 1 capital, a core measure of financial strength, after a government-appointed panel recommended in December raising the requirements for the ratio of core capital to total assets for Switzerland’s biggest banks. The bank said it intends to award about 2.5 billion francs in these bonds over the next five years.
The bank Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates as profit at the investment bank improved and the company recorded a tax gain.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elena Logutenkova in Zurich at elogutenkova@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elisa Martinuzzi at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net Simone Meier
