Brady Dougan, chief executive of Credit Suisse, warned today that some of the bank’s 6000 London employees may choose to move to Zurich or New York to avoid strict new rules on bonuses planned by the European Union. But he does not see it as a huge problem.
“People are always writing about bankers leaving. In the end, not so many tend to move and I think that will also be the case this time,” Dougan told Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper.
“Some employees will probably leave London and would rather go to New York or Zurich,” he added.
The EU agreed last month to bar bankers from getting bonuses any larger than their base salaries, while the Swiss people voted this month to give shareholders a binding vote on executive pay at all listed companies. Dougan said the EU plan, being challenged by Britain, would only affect a “few hundred” Credit Suisse bankers and was likely to lead to fixed salaries being increased in some areas, making personnel costs less flexible.
He said he did not see a major upset from the new Swiss rules.
