UBS under fire over £17m deal

Published on 15/03/2013 00:00

UBS sparked anger yesterday after it revealed that it had welcomed its new investment bank chief with a $26 million (£17m) pay and shares package as it looks to cut 10,000 jobs.

The deal with Andrea Orcel rekindled the heated debate over executive pay in the bank’s homeland of Switzerland.

Brigitta Moser-Harder, an outspoken shareholder of UBS who campaigned for strict controls on executive pay that were adopted in a Swiss referendum earlier this month, said the figures showed “UBS has still not learnt from the mistakes of the past”.

The near collapse of the bank five years ago was blamed on a big bonus culture which encouraged risk-taking. The bank’s annual report also revealed that chief executive Sergio Ermotti received almost $9m in 2012.