UBS bosses take pay cut after difficult year

Sergio Ermotti took home less pay in his penultimate year as UBS CEO. © Keystone / Walter Bieri

Outgoing UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti saw his pay cut to CHF12.5 million ($12.9 million) last year from CHF14.1 million in 2018. UBS says it managed a CHF4.3 billion profit last year, but this was nevertheless a fall year-on-year while the bank was also hit by a huge tax evasion fine in France.

Ermotti and chairman Axel Weber, who saw his pay drop from CHF6 million to CHF5.2 million, were punished partially for the CHF5 billion financial sanction imposed by a Paris court last year – a conviction the bank is appealing.

As a result of the French legal reversal, several executives will not be awarded some of the performance-related remuneration that had been set aside for them. UBS shareholders will have the chance to vote either for or against the amount of executive pay at the banks’ annual general meeting on April 29.

UBS is proposing a variable pay of more than CHF70 million for executives for last year, a maximum CHF33 million fixed salary for executives in 2021 and CHF13 million for board members between this year’s AGM and that of 2021.

UBS’s compensation reportExternal link also reveals that Iqbal Khan, who joined as head of wealth management from rivals Credit Suisse last year in the midst of a spygate scandal, was awarded CHF8.2 million. This was in good part to compensate Khan for bonuses he would have received at Credit Suisse had he not left.

Ermotti will step down as CEO in November after a nine-year stint at the helm to be replaced by Ralph Hamers.