UBS raises pay packet of chief executive to $11.1 million

UBS raised total compensation for chief executive officer Sergio Ermotti by 4 per cent to 11.2 million francs ($11.1 million) and restated fourth-quarter profit, lowering it by 105 million francs.

UBS took provisions of 134 million francs at the investment bank after agreeing to pay about the same amount to settle a US lawsuit related to currency rigging, it said in a statement Friday.

This lowered full-year profit to 3.5 billion francs, from 3.6 billion francs. Ermotti’s pay included variable compensation and benefits of 8.7 million Swiss francs on top of a base salary of 2.5 million francs. He earned a total of 10.7 million francs in 2013.

The chief executive’s raise comes after a year in which UBS succeeded in raising its capital ratio to the targeted 13 per cent after shrinking its investment bank and restructuring its business to focus on wealth management.

The bank’s net income rose to 3.5 billion francs in 2014 from 3.2 billion francs a year earlier as tax gains cushioned litigation provisions for probes including attempted manipulation of foreign-exchange markets.

The bank is paying about 500 million francs a year of compensation in deferred contingent capital.

It aims to fortify its finances by paying its employees in bonds that count as additional Tier 1 capital.

Regulators fined the bank in November for attempting to manipulate currency markets. The US Department of Justice and other regulators are still probing the bank on suspicions of rigging currency benchmarks and precious metals pricing.

Bloomberg