UBS cuts 2011 staff bonuses by 40%

Swiss banking giant UBS said Thursday it had slashed overall 2011 staff bonuses by 40 percent to 2.6 billion Swiss francs (2.2 billion euros, $2.8 billion) due to weaker profits in a tough market. The bank said in its yearly report that the bonus pool for its investment banking division was chopped by about 60 percent. That was the combined result of an unauthorised trading incident and a substantially weaker performance last year. Remuneration for bank staff also fell after UBS' net profit dropped to 4.16 billion francs from 7.53 billion francs in 2010. The bank said overall compensation of its executive board was pared to 70.1 million francs from 91 million a year earlier. Chief executive Sergio Ermotti received a 4.6 million franc bonus for 2011, leaving him with total compensation of 6.4 million francs. The bank also said that the head of its investment unit, Carsten Kengeter, had agreed to forgo his 2011 bonus following a multi-billion franc trading scandal that cost the Swiss bank dearly. Kengeter slid from being the bank's highest earner in 2010 at around 9 million francs to a base salary of about 1.5 million francs for last year.