Tidjane Thiam, chief executive officer at Credit Suisse since the summer of last year, remained true to his word and decided to forego some of his bonus. A former colleague of his received a bigger pay.
Tidjane Thiam received 4.6 million Swiss francs for his six months as chief executive of Credit Suisse (CS), the bank said in its annual compensation report published today. Of the total compensation, 2.9 million was his bonus.
Thiam stuck to his word and took a 40 percent lower bonus than he would have been entitled to. Credit Suisse posted a loss of 2.9 billion francs last year after writing down the value of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, an investment bank it acquired in 2000. Switzerland's second-biggest bank is restructuring its business and plans to cut 6,000 jobs.
Deferred Compensation
The CEO wasn't the highest earner at CS last year. Robert Shafir, co-CEO Wealth Management and CEO Americas received 7.9 million francs for 10 months worth of work, with 6.3 million as a bonus.
Apart from the wage and bonus, Thiams was also awarded with CS shares to the tune of 14.6 million francs. Within this package, 14.3 million are so-called deferred compensation. They are part of the bonus, which CS «acquired» from Prudential, Thiam's previous employer. Thus, Thiam holds more CS shares than Brady Dougan, who has 8.1 million francs worth of equity. His shares will be delivered in several stages through 2018.
Urs Rohner, chairman of the board, received 3.2 million francs in total, with 3 million francs as basic salary.
