Tom BurroughesUBS intends to cap bankers’ bonuses as the firm intends to curb remuneration schemes following regulatory and investor pressure, the Financial Times reports.
The Zurich-listed banking and wealth management firm is considering a range of options including putting a lid on executives’ bonuses either in relation to fixed salary or the bank’s net profit, increasing the time for deferred pay to five years and aligning its absolute remuneration level with the average of a peer group, the publication said.
The report did not elaborate on whether the changes applied to any one specific side of UBS’ activities, such as wealth management.UBS did not respond to this publication’s request for comment at the time of going to press.
Investors and industry commentators have told WealthBriefing that they expect more firms such as banks to increase the performance-measurement period during which executives must wait to receive bonuses from three to five years. (To view a feature on the issue, click here.) Banks such as HSBC have already taken such a step, and others are considering doing so. Controversy about high pay and bonuses has intensified in cases where executives have presided over a bank that has had to be bailed out by the taxpayer, for example.
Axel Weber, the former Bundesbank president who joined as chairman four months ago, has travelled across Europe and the US to find investor views about the firm’s pay policies, the FT said, citing sources.
The ideas for wide-ranging reforms will be debated at board level in the next few months and a final plan will be presented to key investors several months ahead of the annual meeting next May, the report added.
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