Credit Suisse chief executive’s decision to cut his bonus has been hailed as a show of strong leadership which other banks should take heed of at this years’ round of annual meetings.
At the weekend it was announced that Tidjane Thiam had asked the board to reduce his 2015 bonus by between 25 and 50 per cent, after the bank reported its first full-year loss in eight years.
A spokesman for Credit Suisse said this was “an act of solidarity given the difficult year the bank has had and the fact that bonuses have been cut elsewhere across the group”.
Ashley Hamilton Claxton, corporate governance manager at Royal London Asset Management - which holds 635,000 shares in Credit Suisse worth £6.6m - commented that Mr Thiam has shown real leadership.
“He and the Credit Suisse board should be congratulated on taking the decision to reduce his bonus this year.
“Although we know recruitment and retention in the banking sector is a challenge, it is absolutely critical that pay remains tied to performance,” he said, adding: “We will be watching the banking sector carefully as we cast our votes at this years’ round of annual meetings.”
Mr Thiam took over last July to lead a major restructuring of the bank, pledging that its bonus pool for 2015 would be 11 per cent smaller than a year earlier.
Last week, Credit Suisse said it would cut bonuses by 36 per cent at its global markets division, which lost almost $3.5bn (£2.4bn) in the fourth quarter , after writing down the value of distressed debt it held.
peter.walker@ft.com
