The wages at the best-known banks in Switzerland have gone into a slow decline. One company, however, still awards its staff outstanding remuneration packages.
The year 2018 in many ways mirrored previous years in Swiss banking: if you managed to get a job at Vontobel, you will have received the highest wage compared to rival companies.
The Zurich-based bank paid its employees on average more than 300,000 Swiss francs ($302,000) a year, more than any of the seven banks finews.asia looked into.
Of course, pay at the private bank may have fallen below this barrier in 2019. Last summer, CEO Zeno Staub integrated Notenstein La Roche into the bank. As a result, average pay fell to 147,000 francs per member of staff in the second half, markedly lower than in the first six months of the year. If the figure would remain at that level for a full year, Vontobel’s bankers would now receive 294,000 francs, the first time below 300,000 francs since 2016.
Julius Baer and UBS as Runners Up
Still, even if wages have come down slightly at Vontobel, they will still be by far the highest. Julius Baer and UBS, which are second and third respectively, spend about 240,000 francs on average.
Naturally, these figures don’t tell the whole story. After all, it is not just about which employer, but also very much about which business you work in.
Asset Management Remains a Lucrative Segment
Asset management and investment banking are more lucrative than private and retail banking. Vontobel paid its staff in asset management 407,027 francs per year, while employees in financial products took home some 293,188 francs per year. This was slightly above the amount paid to staff in wealth management.
The difference between the divisions was even more pronounced at UBS, where an average investment banker was paid $565,033 in 2018. In wealth management, which included the relatively expensive U.S. relationship managers, average pay stood at $325,302.
The bankers catering to the average wage-earner in Switzerland are also receiving a pay package that is closer to theirs. Postfinance, for instance, spent 146,767 francs per member of staff, making it the worst-paying firm among the surveyed. But retail bankers at UBS didn’t get that much more, with $151,649 – less than half of what their colleagues in wealth management received.
The Credit Suisse Wages
But, Postfinance and Raiffeisen seemed the only two companies not to have cut wages last year. Credit Suisse, for instance, has reduced salaries in every year since CEO Tidjane Thiam took over and enforced a strategic restructuring process.
The average Credit Suisse pay of 210,595 francs may also have been affected by the cuts enforced in investment banking, where the expensive trading staff are manning the desks. And still, the business is the second largest at Credit Suisse, following the Swiss unit.
How We Counted
finews.com compared the total personnel expenses and the number of full-time-equivalents at the banks evaluated. The personnel expenses don’t accurately reflect wages and bonuses, but the comparison between the average pay across the various banks does allow to see how they stack up.
