UBS chief Gruebel waives bonus
Oswald Gruebel, chief executive of UBS, is the first head of a major bank to say he will forego his 2010 bonus after the wealth manager’s share price fell during the year.
While the Swiss bank has succeeded in stemming wealth management outflows – one of Gruebel’s stated priorities – and returned to profit in 2010, the CEO renounced his payout for the second successive year.
“The fact that the share price did not increase in 2010 has led to Mr Gruebel’s decision,” UBS said in a statement.
The bank said Gruebel, who was brought out of retirement two years ago to revive UBS, was entitled to a bonus based on profit, an improvement in results and progress towards medium-term strategic goals.
UBS shares fell 4.4 per cent in 2010 but outperformed the Stoxx European Banks index .SX7P, which dropped 11.6 per cent.
Like Gruebel, many other CEOs at top banks renounced their bonus for 2009.
But many have said they will take their awards for 2010 while others are expected to do so after profits recovered and political pressure eased on them to pass up extra payments.
Some have taken their bonus in deferred share awards.