New and old management at UBS fuel costs

Senior management at Swiss bank UBS received compensation of almost SFr69 million ($65.17 million) in 2009, UBS has said.

The embattled bank, which has changed much of its management team over the past year, also allotted SFr41.3 million to outgoing members.

Bailed out by public funds in 2008 in the aftermath of the subprime crisis in the United States and now under pressure in the US over American tax evaders, UBS made a loss of SFr2.7 billion in 2009.

The bank said in its annual compensation report that the co-director of the bank’s investment arm, Carsten Kengeter, was the highest paid with SFr13.2 million, most of which was deferred.

A statement on Monday added that Kengeter was a “very strong hire for the Investment Bank” and its transformation.

CEO Oswald Grübel, who decided not to accept any incentive award for 2009 because of the bank’s poor performance, received a base salary of SFr3 million. However, he received shares worth just over SFr13 million to compensate for deferred awards from his former employer, Credit Suisse.

Former Swiss finance minister Kaspar Villiger, who is now UBS chairman, received SFr676,571.

swissinfo.ch and agencies