By Margot Patrick
UBS gave Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti a $13.6 million bonus, hailing his "excellent performance in a defining year" for Switzerlands largest bank by assets.
The banker was recruited last April to serve as CEO for a second time. He was brought back shortly after UBS agreed to rescue Credit Suisse, buying the latter for about $3.7 billion over a whirlwind weekend.
Ermotti felt loyalty to UBS and a call of duty to Switzerland after it bought Credit Suisse, he said in a recent podcast with Nicolai Tangen, the head of Norway's sovereign wealth fund.
He had previously been CEO between 2011 and 2020. Ermotti said he saw the potential to build a stronger business out of a situation that was not ideal and quite tragic.
UBS's board, in the bank's annual report issued Thursday, suggested he is worth every franc. Board members said he was key in reassuring clients, defusing risks, and stabilizing Credit Suisse, and praised his "vision, drive and ambition" for how to combine the businesses.
Ermottis bonus compares to about $10.7 million in 2022 for former UBS CEO Ralph Hamers, who left so that Ermotti could take the job again. Including base pay, Ermotti received 14.125 million Swiss francs, or about $15.6 million.
Their bonuses made them the highest-paid CEOs of a publicly traded European bank in both years, but still put them well below the CEO pay at major U.S. banks. JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon was paid $36 million in 2023, mostly in performance pay.
Ermotti has said he will stay at least until Credit Suisse is integrated, if not longer. UBS expects the integration to be substantially done by the end of 2026.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 28, 2024 07:23 ET (11:23 GMT)
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