Credit Suisse reveals big pay for top executives

ZURICH: Swiss bank Credit Suisse said on Thursday that it had paid 148.9 million Swiss francs (104 million euros, 138 million dollars) in salaries and bonuses to its 13 executive board members in 2009.

More than one tenth of the total went to the chief executive, Brady Dougan.

Dougan was paid 19.2 million francs in all, including a base salary of 1.25 million francs and 17.87 million francs' worth of share-based and other awards, making him the top earner on the executive board.

Most of the 104.3 million euros or 139.2 million dollars paid to the 13 executives was also made up of share-based bonuses. Basic salaries amounted to 9.13 million francs.

In 2008, 15 members of the executive board were paid 106.71 million francs in total, including just 10.62 million francs of base salaries while the remainder was made up of share and cash bonuses, or awards that had to be paid due to contractual agreements.

The difference in the number of executive board members in 2008 and 2009 reflected changes in the composition of the board.

Credit Suisse had said in February that it would pay a total of 6.85 billion francs in bonuses to its staff.

The bank had returned to profits in 2009 with earnings of 6.7 billion francs, a dramatic upswing from 8.2 billion francs in losses for 2008.

Its cross-town rival UBS meanwhile announced that it paid 54.9 million francs in bonuses to senior executives in 2009, after the bank also returned to profitability with earnings of 1.2 billion francs for the year.