Credit Suisse shareholders approve executive bonuses, bank names new finance chief

Credit Suisse shareholders approve bonuses

GENEVA — Credit Suisse Group survived a revolt by activist shareholders Friday as the bank’s annual meeting in Zurich approved massive bonus payments to top executives following a heated debate.

About two-thirds of votes were cast in favor of the 6.9 billion Swiss francs ($6.4 billion) in bonuses that Credit Suisse paid managers last year, with 29 percent voting against.

Credit Suisse Chairman Hans-Ulrich Doerig said the bank took the dissenting voices seriously and would improve its compensation system in future to ensure it has the approval of more of its shareholders.

The board of rival bank UBS AG suffered an embarrassing defeat two weeks ago when shareholders refused to absolve former top executives of responsibility for huge losses, and many voted against executive bonuses.

Much of the anger among Credit Suisse shareholders was directed at the 18 million francs bonus received last year by Chief Executive Brady Dougan, on top of 71 million francs he received as part of a long-term bonus program started in 2004.

Some shareholder groups wanted top executives to give 10 percent of their bonuses to investors who lost hundreds of millions of dollars after being advised to buy products in failed U.S. bank Lehman Brothers.

Rene Zeyer, a shareholder representing investors who lost money because of Lehman products, appealed directly to Dougan.

“You earn 10,275 francs every hour, about 250,000 francs every single day of the year,” Zeyer told the meeting. “For that we can expect a bit of decency from you.”

Ahead of the meeting Credit Suisse announced that investment bank chief David Mathers will replace current Chief Financial Officer Renato Fassbind on Oct. 1. Fassbind, who has been in the post for six years, will remain an adviser to the bank.

The bank reported a first-quarter net profit of 2.06 billion francs last week, meeting analyst predictions but disappointing those investors who had hoped to see stronger earnings after Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs posted better-than-expected results.

Credit Suisse shares closed down 2.3 percent at 49.70 francs ($46.03) on the Zurich exchange.