The Swiss government said it’s temporarily suspending certain kinds of bonus pay for Credit Suisse Group AG staff following the state-brokered takeover of the bank by rival UBS Group AG.
The nation’s governing federal council said in a statement it’s invoking the Swiss Banking Act which allows it to impose remuneration-related measures “if a systemically important bank is granted direct or indirect state aid from federal funds.”
Any freeze on bonus pay, even if just temporary, may spur more Credit Suisse bankers to jump ship. Recruiters across the world are getting an unprecedented flood of calls from Credit Suisse bankers seeking new jobs as the embattled Swiss lender is set to be taken over by its larger Zurich rival.
Credit Suisse’s executive board on Monday decided to waive its variable remuneration for the 2022 financial year, the government said. Therefore the government said it’s not going to retroactively prohibit “already granted and immediately payable variable remuneration for Credit Suisse employees for the 2022 financial year.”
“The aim of this is also to avoid impacting employees who did not themselves cause the crisis,” it said. Still, the government said that it’s instructed the Swiss Finance Department to “propose further measures” on variable remuneration for 2022 and thereafter.
