Credit Suisse has become the first big international bank to respond formally to regulatory demands to reform pay, with plans to increase the proportion of bonuses to its top earners paid over a period of years to reflect long-term performance, the Financial Times said, but did not give sources for the story.

About 7,000 of the bank’s 47,000 staff were briefed about the new system, the newspaper said. It did not specify what portion of the staff work in the wealth management side of the firm.

The Zurich-listed bank did not comment to WealthBriefing on the matter at the time of publication.

The changes at Credit Suisse are meant to address criticisms that former systems may not have curbed excessive risk-taking.

High bonuses have been blamed for helping to cause the credit crunch, as bankers who earned big money during the boom times and who have been bailed out by the taxpayer in the subsequent bust have been accused of operating without due regard to risk. High risk-taking has also been blamed on factors such as years of relatively low interest rates that were set by central banks such as the Federal Reserve, which encouraged banks to chase yield by lending to riskier borrowers.

Credit Suisse’s scheme covers only the deferred element of the bonus payments that are a big part of bankers’ compensation. But the changes are meant to address criticisms that former systems, even when spread over time, may not have curbed excessive risk-taking.

The innovations will also shift a greater proportion of total compensation to base salary rather than bonuses.

The scheme covers directors and managing directors and applies when annual variable compensation exceeds SFr125,000 ($123,500) or the local equivalent. How much of a bonus is paid in cash and how much under the new scheme has not been disclosed.