The quota of women in the 100 largest listed Swiss companies (SPI 100) now stands at 30.8%, consulting firm Swipra said on Wednesday after analysing the 2023 annual general meeting (AGM) season. After last year’s AGM season, the figure was 28.5%.
This was also the first time that the legal requirement of at least 30% representation per gender, which will apply from 2026, had been met. The average share of women among the newly elected members of the executive bodies was 34.4%.
CEO remuneration was once again a controversial topic at the shareholders’ meetings – not only because of increasing executive compensation packages, but also because of the different development of salary levels of management and employees, Swipra said.
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However, according to the analysis, compensation at the highest level has developed differently. The total compensation of CEOs in office for the entire year at the 20 blue-chip SMI companies rose by an average of 13.5% to CHF8.62 million ($9.6 million), while it fell by 13.3% to CHF1.60 million at the other 80 companies, it said. The average bonus payments of CEOs in relation to base salary – often a good indicator of target achievement levels – were a fifth lower in 2023 than in 2022, it added.
The reason for the increase in the compensation of SMI CEOs was often a higher allocation of share-based long-term compensation elements, which was viewed critically by institutional investors overall. According to Swipra, the average percentage of no votes on CEO compensation at SMI companies rose from 16.9% to 28.6%.
For its analysis, Swipra analysed the results of all AGMs of SPI 100 companies that took place between July 1, 2022, and June 14, 2023.
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Parliament approves quotas for women on company boards
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The Swiss parliament has approved a proposal calling for better representation of women at the top echelons of large publicly-traded companies.
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Few women sit on company boards in Switzerland. Parliament has put off deciding about quotas, but business has ideas about what should be done.
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