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Shareholder group rejects UBS pay and share buyback plans

Published on March 27, 2025

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Shareholder group rejects UBS pay and share buyback plans — Ethos criticises UBS compensation report and share buyback Keystone-SDA

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The shareholder association Ethos is recommending that shareholders reject Swiss bank UBS's remuneration, share buyback programme and sustainability report at its AGM on April 10.

This content was published on March 27, 2025 - 16:19

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“The remuneration of UBS’s executive bodies is too high compared to European financial institutions,” Ethos said in a statement on Thursday.

Ethos recognises that the bank has not further increased the remuneration of CEO Sergio Ermotti for 2024 compared to 2023. Nevertheless, the salary remains one of the highest in Switzerland and Europe.

+ How to tame UBS without making the bank toothless

Another criticism is that the variable remuneration of members of the Executive Board can amount to a maximum of seven times the basic salary. This potentially leads to excessive remuneration.

“Such high payments and the very high leverage for variable remuneration can encourage excessive risk-taking, as the financial crisis of 2008 or the recent collapse of Credit Suisse have shown”, said Ethos Director Vincent Kaufmann.

“Significant” sustainability gaps

The shareholders’ association is also in favour of strengthening the bank’s own funds and is therefore against the planned new share buyback programme.

The UBS Board of Directors’ proposal to buy back and cancel shares contradicts the current discussion on tightening capital requirements for large banks following the collapse of Credit Suisse, Ethos added.

The bank is also backtracking on certain sustainability commitments: UBS has watered down its ambitions with regard to climate change, diversity and equality as well as investment exclusion criteria.

According to Ethos, there are also significant gaps in the group’s sustainability report. For example, UBS only partially publishes greenhouse gas emissions in connection with loans granted.

UBS proud of performance

UBS did not wish to comment directly on Ethos’ recommendations. At the request of the news agency AWP, a spokesperson merely referred to statements made by Chairman of the Board of Directors Colm Kelleher in the 2024 annual report, which the bank published last week.

Management compensation for 2024 reflects the performance-based approach. And the majority of the variable remuneration will be deferred over several years.

The teams had made progress with integration in 2024, strengthening UBS’s position as a leading global wealth manager and confirming the bank’s role as a driver of prosperity in the Swiss domestic market, said Kelleher.

UBS mulls moving HQ abroad, according to media report

This content was published on Mar 21, 2025 The Swiss bank UBS could relocate its Swiss headquarters abroad if capital demand is not reduced, Bloomberg News reports.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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