Credit Suisse and UBS have already increased salaries for their investment bankers. Recruiters say MDs at UBS can now get up to 330k and that MDs at Credit Suisse can now get up to 380k. However, if yesterday’s proposals from the Swiss government come to pass, salaries could rise even more dramatically.

The Swiss government is proposing to prevent all bonuses above CHF2m ($1.9m) from being tax deductible: even if a bank makes a loss, it would be obliged to pay corporate taxes on individual bonuses above that amount.

Given that the Swiss proposals appear to apply only to ‘variable compensation,’ their probable outcome would simply be a massive increase in fixed compensation.

According to the Financial Times, Swiss bankers are rather keen on the proposals – particularly as the alternative was a ceiling on total comp. There’s no guarantee that the legislation will come to pass: it’s due to be discussed in parliament in June.

Recall that the Great Depression nadir was the sovereign debt default phase. (The Atlantic)

Time to short German and French banks as a proxy for the eurozone. (BusinessInsider)

Goldman people have been urged to keep a low profile, think carefully about the restaurants and parties they attend and watch how they behave in public. (Wall Street Journal)

Goldman is thinking of settling with the SEC. (NY Post)

The Goldman self-assessments may encourage greater circumspection in future. (Bloomberg)

Citigroup has lost its head of equity research. (Financial News)

Citigroup’s return to Saudi Arabia won’t be that simple. (Bloomberg)

Barclays has been cutting jobs in India. (Bloomberg)

Barclays’ head of European credit strategy has left. (Wall Street Journal)

Blanche Lincoln’s derivatives bill is a bizarre mix of solid and utterly insane. (Economics of Contempt)

99% of RBS investors approve punitive revised terms for the executive compensation scheme. (Financial Times)

The human brain is not keen on inequality. (BrainBlogger)