Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam said employees shouldn’t expect a big increase in compensation for 2017 as the bank emerges from two years of restructuring that have diluted investors.
“This year, with the improvement in results, there will be a balance,” Thiam said Tuesday in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “You should not expect anything spectacular, but something fair. Not a big increase compared to the previous year.”
Credit Suisse, among the few banks to increase its bonus pool for last year, is heading into the final year of an overhaul aimed at reducing reliance on volatile trading in favor of wealth management and emerging markets. Thiam, who is scheduled to update investors Thursday on his strategy, has cut thousands of jobs, sold off risky legacy assets, and raised more than 10 billion francs ($10.2 billion) from shareholders in the past two years.
The bank awarded 3.09 billion francs in incentive pay for 2016, a 6 percent increase from a year earlier, even as charges tied to legal settlements pushed it to a second consecutive annual loss. Thiam said on Tuesday that the bank will be profitable for 2017, with further improvements expected in the following years. He said in the future, he plans to return excess capital to shareholders who have been diluted by the capital increases.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.