The worst bonus year for Credit Suisse Group AG bankers in more than a decade has them hanging their hopes on a 70% jump in the stock price.
(Bloomberg) — The worst bonus year for Credit Suisse Group AG bankers in more than a decade has them hanging their hopes on a 70% jump in the stock price.
The annual bonus pool plunged 50% to 1 billion francs after 2022 brought a loss that wiped out a decade’s worth of profit. To cushion the blow, Credit Suisse separately handed about 500 senior staffers a so-called transformation award worth up to 350 million francs ($383 million). That only pays out if it can meet key targets of its turnaround over coming years.
The stock portion of the award — which is all of it for executive board members and half of it for others — depends on the shares reaching 3.82 francs or higher on Dec. 31, 2025. While that’s 69% above Monday’s close, the stock was trading near that level as recently as November, before a $4 billion capital raise.
Credit Suisse’s leaders shared in the pain of a brutal year, with the executive board receiving no bonuses and the chairman waiving his standard fee for that role, according to the firm’s annual report Tuesday.
Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Koerner said in a Bloomberg Television interview Tuesday that the reshaped bank will be more focused and less risky. “We will be very profitable and we will reward shareholders.”
His bankers have plenty riding on that being right.
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