Credit Suisse CEO asks bank to cut his bonus

Tidjane Thiam, chief executive of Credit Suisse, has asked the company's board to reduce his bonus, days after the Swiss bank reported a multibillion-dollar loss in the fourth quarter.

“I have asked the board of directors for a significant reduction in my bonus,” Thiam said in a statement issued by the bank Sunday. Thiam, who joined the bank in July, did not indicate the size of the reduction in his bonus, but said his was the largest reduction within the management team.

Sonntagszeitung, a weekly newspaper in Switzerland, first reported Sunday that Thiam had sought a reduction in his bonus, based on an interview with him.

On Thursday, Credit Suisse, which is based in Zurich and has large operations in New York and London, posted a loss of 5.83 billion Swiss francs, or about $5.88 billion, in contrast to a profit of 691 million francs in the same quarter a year earlier. The loss was greater than analysts had expected and sent Credit

Suisse’s shares down as much as 12 per cent in Zurich trading Thursday. The loss was largely because of a write-down of 3.8 billion francs after Credit

Suisse reassessed the value of its investment bank as part of a continuing overhaul. The full-year loss of 2.94 billion francs, or $2.96 billion, was the first annual loss for Credit Suisse since the bank reported a record loss of 8.2 billion francs in the midst of the financial crisis in 2008. The bank has been reshaping itself by shrinking its investment bank and placing greater emphasis on its wealth management business, particularly in Asia and other emerging markets.

On Thursday, Credit Suisse vowed to accelerate its plans to cut costs by billions of dollars by the end of 2018, saying it would eliminate 4,000 positions held by employees and contractors. The bank employs about 48,000 people worldwide.

Credit Suisse is one of several European banks that have brought in new management and announced plans to reshape their businesses in the past year.

The New York Times