UBS Group AG’s investment bank allocated the biggest discretionary payouts to the highest revenue generators and younger employees as competition from other industries intensifies, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The strategy is in line with its rivals and comes as overall awards are on average flat at the unit for 2017 compared to the previous year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the decisions are private. UBS informed its staff about the payouts on Feb. 7, they said. The company declined to comment.
Barclays Plc’s top investment banker told staff he’ll sharpen divisions in bonuses, boosting pay for top performers while cutting it for those in the bottom half, people familiar with the comments said in November.
Andrea Orcel, head of UBS’s investment bank, said in an interview in December that 2017 would be a “ tricky year" for compensation in the industry, but that his company had done slightly better than a year earlier. Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland’s second-largest bank, plans to increase its bonus pool by a low single-digit percentage for last year as the lender makes progress on its three-year restructuring plan, people familiar with the plans have said.
UBS cut the firm’s bonus pool for 2016 by 17 percent to 2.9 billion Swiss francs ($3 billion). The bank paid out 3.5 billion francs for 2015.
Average performers may see no increase as investment banking pay falls across the industry, one of the people said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.