UBS chief gets £11m – after his pay’s cut

THE boss of UBS earned £11.1m last year, despite a £500,000 pay cut linked to the Swiss bank’s poor performance.

Sergio Ermotti took the bumper sum even though profits nearly halved. His 47,600 staff shared a £2.4bn bonus pool – down 17pc on 2015. UBS was left out of a surge in profits at investment banks across the US and Europe following the American elections. Donald Trump’s victory triggered a surprise bull run in the markets, with the Dow Jones and FTSE 100 indexes both hitting record highs.

It led to rich pickings at investment banks on both sides of the Atlantic, leading experts to predict a £15bn bonus bonanza in the City.

But under Ermotti, 56, UBS has lagged behind rivals. Profits were £2.7bn last year from £5.1bn in 2015.

The father-of-two faced accusations yesterday that he was being rewarded for failure. Stefan Stern, of the High Pay Centre, said: ‘It’s a sign of how normal gigantic pay packages have become that someone can take a £500,000 cut with it barely leaving a scratch.

‘People in big business and high finance have become desensitised to the vastness of these numbers, and don’t seem able to restrain them. Business as usual isn’t good enough, and something needs to change.’

The Government has pledged to crack down on corporate greed, but Prime Minister Theresa May has not introduced specific measures.