Credit Suisse Reins in Payday for CEO
Credit Suisse paid CEO Thomas Gottstein more than $9 million in his first year on the job. It marks a surprising return to single-digit millions for top Swiss bank CEOs.
The Swiss-based bank is paying Thomas Gottstein, who took as CEO in February, 8.5 million Swiss francs ($9.2 million), according to the bank's annual report, published on Thursday. This represents the first time since the financial crisis of 2008/09 that Credit Suisse has not paid its CEO a double-digit million sum for a year's work.
Executive pay has been a hot-button topic at Credit Suisse for years: ex-CEO Tidjane Thiam and Chairman Urs Rohner were forced to climb down on bonus claims four years ago amid massive shareholder pressure. Credit Suisse directors who decide on pay reportedly debated considerably how much to Thiam after his exit last February over a spy scandal.
Swiss Spendthrift
It isn't clear how much Thiam, who earned 10.2 million francs in 2019, took home last year because Credit Suisse doesn't disclose it. The bank said merely that three joiners as well as leavers to its top management – which includes Thiam, new Swiss boss André Helfenstein, and investment banker David Miller – were paid a total of 11.9 million last year.
It is common knowledge that Switzerland pays better than wider Europe: across Paradeplatz, UBS sent off ex-CEO Sergio Ermotti with a record 13.3 million franc payday last year. His replacement, Ralph Hamers, was paid 4.2 million francs for two months understudying and two months as CEO.
Dutch Surge
Hamers 3 million franc UBS bonus alone represents more than the 2.6 million euros ($3.1 million) that ING paid him in 2019, his last full year running the Dutch bank. Credit Suisse's last single-digit CEO paycheck was in 2009 when ex-CEO Brady Dougan took home 2.9 million francs in the midst of the financial crisis.
Credit Suisse's pay committee is overseen by Singaporean ex-banker Kai Nargolwala and includes SPAC dealmaker Michael Klein, Harvard professor Iris Bohnet, and former top Pictet private banker, Christian Gellerstad. Before becoming CEO last year, Gottstein had run the bank's Swiss arm since 2015.
