UBS pays a third more to its senior executives

Top managers at Swiss bank UBS picked up a third more in salaries and bonuses for 2010, a total of SFr91 million ($98.7 million), according to the annual report.

Published on Tuesday, the report said investment bank chief executive Carsten Kengeter was the highest paid executive for the second year running, although his total compensation was down as the business struggled.

He received SFr9.3 million in pay and bonuses, compared with a total of SFr13 million in 2009.

Earlier this month, UBS chief executive Oswald Grübel announced he would forgo his bonus for a second year because the share price had not increased in 2010 and there was no added value for shareholders. Grübel received a basic salary of SFr3 million.

UBS on Tuesday also revised its full-year 2010 profit up to SFr7.5 billion from the SFr7.2 billion it reported last month, due to an upward revision in the tax benefit for a subsidiary. 

Grübel told a news conference in February that the investment bank performance, while considerably improved, was “clearly not yet satisfactory for us”.

Turning around the investment bank was one of Grübel’s main goals when he took over as CEO at UBS after the business had lost billions during the financial crisis, dragging UBS to the largest annual loss in Swiss corporate history in 2008.