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

efinancialcareers.com

31–40 of 48 posts

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

#31
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.

Trickle down economics at its best

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

#32

“ 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.

I hate this simplistic attitude so much. Okay how do you expect the bank to "pull itself by the bootstraps" and not rely on a govermnet bailout? Do you expect bright employees to stay on board or flock in and fix things out of the kindness of their hearts? They have to pay people to keep things from getting worse. And yes they could get worse.

To continue along these lines- If the bank fails everyone looses their jobs. Rich executives will be fine and as it goes down the line the negative impact gets worse.

If the government bails out the bank it's saving some jobs and is it possible to make some of that investment back?

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

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Nor is Credit Suisse going down going to affect normal people or the greater economy. Really? They have 50,000 employees and two million clients.

The global economy will barely blink at that, so long as what's taking Credit Suisse down isn't a more widespread issue (and it doesn't appear to be).

Most of those clients will simply move to another bank as needed, there are better alternatives.

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

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate this simplistic attitude so much. Okay how do you expect the bank to "pull itself by the bootstraps" and not rely on a govermnet bailout? Do you expect bright employees to stay on board or flock in and fix things out of the kindness of their hearts? They have to pay people to keep things from getting worse. And yes they could get worse.

To continue along these lines- If the bank fails everyone looses their jobs. Rich executives will be fine and as it goes down the line the negative impact gets worse. If the government bails out the bank it's saving some jobs and is it possible to make some of that investment back?

[deleted]

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

#36

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.

There will certainly be ramifications. Whether CS is "too big to fail" will determine the extent of those ramifications. TBTF generally means that a bank's failure is liable to bring down the entire economy. But any large bank, even if not strictly speaking TBTF, will cause plenty of pain if it fails, both for those who save/invest with it and those who rely on it for financing.

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

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too Big To Fail. Swiss government will prop them up. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/swiss-govt-proposes...

> Swiss government will prop them up Unlikely. The article describes a lender-of-last-resort mechanism more than a bail-out [1]. It comports with the EU's ELA [2]. It's an exorbitant privilege, for sure, but not TBTF. [1] https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home/the-fdf/nsb-news_list.m... [2] https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/ecb.agreementemergen...

I will bet you an adult beverage of your choice if push comes to shove, they will rescue CS.

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

#39
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.

I don't think so. Maybe some banks but not CS and not UBS. In fact you may as well rename "Credit Suisse" to "Credit Saud" at this point.[1]

[1] https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/-just-another-cheque--...

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

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Swiss government will prop them up Unlikely. The article describes a lender-of-last-resort mechanism more than a bail-out [1]. It comports with the EU's ELA [2]. It's an exorbitant privilege, for sure, but not TBTF. [1] https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home/the-fdf/nsb-news_list.m... [2] https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/ecb.agreementemergen...

I will bet you an adult beverage of your choice if push comes to shove, they will rescue CS.

> if push comes to shove, they will rescue CS

Depends on the circumstances. If they manage to take someone else (read: UBS) down with them, probably. If they blow up on their lonesome, probably not.

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