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Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

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11–20 of 48 posts

Re: Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

#11
post #7

They're talking in percentage terms because you'd be shocked if they were talking cash. Traders get million pound bonuses. or more. Goodness knows what a bonus is worth, but I'd be extremely happy with 50% of whatever it is. It might seem odd to be paying bonuses at all, but to be fair, mega bonuses are part of the culture of share trading and if you have no bonuses then you have no traders, they'll go elsewhere.

Colleague worked in the London office at Credit Suisse and all exotic car dealerships had cars lined up for sale outside the office on bonus day in early 2000s.

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Re: Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

#12

So, is Credit Suisse considered "too big to fail?" If no, are there any ramifications if it were to collapse? It seems like the writing has been on the wall for a while now, so I would hope preparations have been made and it would not be catastrophic, but it's honestly a little crazy to see a ~170 year old institution getting this close to shuttering.

In theory, there exist firm plans to do an orderly resolution that can result in a market exit should the bank not be able to survive: https://www.finma.ch/en/enforcement/recovery-and-resolution/...

In practice, it'll be interesting to see.

Re: Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

#14
“ It has, however, increased salaries.”

These guys can’t lose. They either win or win big time even while running their company into the ground. Time for some government bailouts so they can go on a luxury retreat like AIG execs did in 2008.

Re: Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

#15

So, is Credit Suisse considered "too big to fail?" If no, are there any ramifications if it were to collapse? It seems like the writing has been on the wall for a while now, so I would hope preparations have been made and it would not be catastrophic, but it's honestly a little crazy to see a ~170 year old institution getting this close to shuttering.

In theory, after the 2008 bailout, the Swiss people were promised that this would be the last time, and next time the bank(s) in question would be wound down.

I'm not super optimistic this actually is going to happen. On the other hand, in contrast to 2008, UBS, the other large bank, is not in crisis right now, so the argument that it's an enterprise rather than a sector problem is much stronger.

Re: Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

#16

Credit Suisse is in free-fall. Down 83% in fixed income sales and trading. Down 95% in equities sales and trading. Down by half in M&A. On trial for cocaine dealing. A bank losing all its income and going down in a criminal probe into a coke dealer. It'd be a good SNL skit if there weren't so many lives on the line. It's amazing a bonus pool exists at all.

Could they potentially collapse? Or are they too big to fail as well? Not sure how it works when it comes to non-US megabanks.

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Re: Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

#17

“ It has, however, increased salaries.” These guys can’t lose. They either win or win big time even while running their company into the ground. Time for some government bailouts so they can go on a luxury retreat like AIG execs did in 2008.

Yeah, .gov to the rescue.

I am still kicking myself to this day I didn't throw money into AIG when it was trading around $1-2 per share. I did make out decently off BoA stock in the same time period though.

Re: Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

#18

“ It has, however, increased salaries.” These guys can’t lose. They either win or win big time even while running their company into the ground. Time for some government bailouts so they can go on a luxury retreat like AIG execs did in 2008.

Most of their compensation does not come from salaries - especially at the exec level. Nor is Credit Suisse going down going to affect normal people or the greater economy. This is not a win for execs, this is a way to placate employees despite half their bonuses disappearing.

Re: Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

#19
post #10

So, is Credit Suisse considered "too big to fail?" If no, are there any ramifications if it were to collapse? It seems like the writing has been on the wall for a while now, so I would hope preparations have been made and it would not be catastrophic, but it's honestly a little crazy to see a ~170 year old institution getting this close to shuttering.

It’s a source of pride for the Swiss, and hence Swiss government won’t let it fail no matter how poorly it’s managed.

So true, I just wonder how will they package it for the voters.

Re: Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

#20
post #10

So, is Credit Suisse considered "too big to fail?" If no, are there any ramifications if it were to collapse? It seems like the writing has been on the wall for a while now, so I would hope preparations have been made and it would not be catastrophic, but it's honestly a little crazy to see a ~170 year old institution getting this close to shuttering.

It’s a source of pride for the Swiss, and hence Swiss government won’t let it fail no matter how poorly it’s managed.

There may be Swiss people proud of Swiss banking as an abstract concept, but I'd be surprised if much of that extended to Credit Suisse in particular as a concrete bank. Given that the overall economy is quite good, there might be a certain appetite even in business friendly circles to let a badly run bank fail pour encourager les autres, but its size would make such a failure fairly difficult to handle.
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