ZURICH (Reuters) -The pay package of UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti was 14.9 million Swiss francs ($16.85 million) in 2024, the bank said on Monday, holding it in check as the company attempts to navigate a tense political debate about how it is regulated.
The CEO’s base salary remained stable, while his variable compensation declined to 12.1 million francs from 12.25 million Swiss francs in 2023, the bank said in its annual report.
Ermotti was the best paid boss among leading European banks in 2023, earning 14.4 million Swiss francs for nine months work after he returned to the company to oversee the integration of Credit Suisse, which UBS bought in March of that year.
UBS picked up its former rival for just 3 billion Swiss francs in a state-engineered deal after the once-powerful institution fell apart in a welter of scandals.
The UBS that emerged from the Credit Suisse takeover had a balance sheet bigger than the Swiss economy, stirring concern about what would happen if the bank failed, and leading to calls to draw up tougher regulations to prevent another meltdown.
Earlier this month the Swiss upper house of parliament backed a motion to cap bankers’ pay at between 3 and 5 million Swiss francs ($3.39 million to $5.66 million).
Total fixed and variable compensation for UBS’s executive board in 2024 was 143.6 million Swiss francs ($162.43 million) according to the bank’s annual report.
The group-wide bonus pool stood at $4.7 billion in 2024 compared with $4.5 billion in 2023.
($1 = 0.8837 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Ariane LuthiEditing by Dave Graham)
