Lawrence Howell of EFG International, the Swiss-based global private banking group, was in 2008 the best paid chief executive of the five largest Swiss banks, according to a study by Ethos, the Swiss foundation for sustainable development.

The recently published 52-page remuneration study of the 47 largest Swiss companies, claims that Mr Howell made SFr6,932,214 ($6,705,242) in 2008, of which 72 per cent was bonus payments. This means his pay is down 37 per cent compared to the year before.

The second best paid CEO was Hans de Gier of Julius Baer, who made SFr5,009,960, of which also 72 per cent were bonus payments.

He is followed by Brady Dougan, CEO of Credit Swiss, who made SFr2,860,000, down 87 per cent compared to the previous year. Mr Dougan’s did not receive any bonuses and his remuneration was based on fixed payments only.

Fourth place is Marcel Rohner of UBS, who made 1,814,702 in 2008. His pay, too, comprised only fixed payments and he did not receive any bonuses in 2008, according to the report.

The fifth best-paid banking CEO was Kurt Streit of the Bern-based Valiant private bank. In 2008, he made SFr1,280,00, exactly the same amount as in the year before. 50 per cent of this was bonus-based.

The study also looked into how much the chairmen of the largest Swiss companies made. Looking at banks, we see that Raymond Bär of Julius Baer made SFr3,305,638 in 2008, down 30 per cent compared to the previous year. He is the best-paid chairman of the banks included in the study.

He is followed by Walter Kielholz of Credit Swiss whose pay went down 86 per cent to SFr2,024,000.

Third best-paid chairman is Peter Kurer of UBS, who made SFr1,565,647.

Jean-Pierre Cuoni of EFG international is the fourth best-paid chairman making SFr660,000, nearly half of what he made in the year before.

He is followed by Roland von Büren, whose pay rose by 23 per cent to SFr333,000.

The study also revealed how high so-called “golden handshake payments” at some Swiss firms were. This list is topped by Credit Swiss who paid Kai Nargolwala SFr19,050,000 for joining as their new chief executive in the Asia/Pacific region. He started on 1 January 2008.

UBS made a golden handshake payment of SFr15,000,000 to Jerker Johansson in 2008 to join the firm as chief executive. However, he left the firm in April this year.