Credit Suisse's boss wants the bank to slash his bonus by up to 50%
REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
Tidjane Thiam, who took over as CEO in July last year, told the Swiss paper Sonntagszeitung on Sunday that "I proposed to the board to markedly reduce my bonus. My cut is the biggest within the management team."
The Financial Times then followed up and a spokesperson told the paper that Thiam "asked the board to cut the bonus awarded to him for 2016 as an act of solidarity given the difficult year the bank has had and the fact that bonuses have been cut elsewhere across the group."
Thiam, who previously called salary and bonus payments a "battleground," is asking for the board to decide on the level of the bonus reduction of between 25% to 50%.
The announcement comes shortly after Credit Suisse reported its first annual loss since 2008. The bank posted a 2015 net loss of 2.94 billion Swiss francs (£2 billion, $2.92 billion), worse than the median estimate of a 2.12 billion loss in a Reuters poll.
"Market conditions in January 2016 have remained challenging and we expect markets to remain volatile throughout the remainder of the first quarter of 2016 as macroeconomic issues persist," said Thiam at the time.
It is the first set of full year results he has had to announce at Credit Suisse. Only four months ago, Thiam embarked on the biggest overhaul of Credit Suisse in almost a decade. This included raising fresh equity from investors, increased its bet on wealth management, slimmed down its investment bank and cut jobs.
On a call after the announcement, Thiam said the firm would cut bonuses by 36% in the global markets - or sales and trading - division.
Thiam called it a "very, very severe level of remuneration cut."
Analysts are still unsure about how Credit Suisse will hit so-called growth targets however in the same report by Swiss paper Sonntagszeitung on Sunday, he said a statement he had made in October, when he announced his major overhaul of Credit Suisse, about 2018 profits was misunderstood.
"I never announced a 2018 goal of a 9-10 billion (Swiss francs) profit," Thiam said.
In November, Thiam also nailed the banking industry's biggest problem in a sentence, which hits back at analyst fears over growth concerns.
"We don't really have a good measure to triangulate returns," he said in November at the Financial Times banking summit.
It means banking is an industry that doesn't know how to set meaningful profit targets, which is a huge issue when trying to work out a business strategy.
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- A centenarian who starts her day with gentle exercise and loves walks shares 5 longevity tips, including staying single
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- "To sit and talk in the box...!" Kohli's message to critics as RCB wrecks GT in IPL Match 45
- 7 Nutritious and flavourful tiffin ideas to pack for school
- India's e-commerce market set to skyrocket as the country's digital economy surges to USD 1 Trillion by 2030
- Top 5 places to visit near Rishikesh
- Indian economy remains in bright spot: Ministry of Finance
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market