SG
Contrary to hope/expectation, it now appears that UBS has done the deed and paid zero bonuses to a lot of people in its investment bank.
CNBC reports that US managing directors and senior vice presidents at UBS were told yesterday they will be paid absolutely nothing at all as a bonus this year, followed by 100% stock bonuses in 2010, a third of which will vest next year, another third of which will vest in 2011, and the final third of which will vest in 2012.
Even worse, the new bonus arrangement includes a claw back provision so that if UBS incurs a
loss at any time over the three year vesting period, the bonus won’t be paid at all.
Headhunters in London confirm that, ‘everyone’ at director level and above in the investment bank is been paid little or nothing at all this year. “It seems to apply across the business – even in equities, where UBS has done quite well,” says one.
UBS did not immediately return a call asking for comment.
Earlier this week, The Times reported that UBS had a 1.3bn bonus pot, down from 6bn last year.
It now appears that the depleted bonus pool is being channeled to the private banking business, which is a strategic priority – unlike the investment bank.
Huraaaah!!! Have a wonderful weekend all!
What on earth do you mean, hurrah? Take it you are perfectly capable of living on 50k a year? Well good for you. I, on the other hand, am now facing eviction. I would appreciate a modicum of sympathy.
wow.. all those 60h weeks have really paid off then…!!
Well sod’s law indeed. I take it your post is laced with sarcasm, but if not, time to budget if you are unable to survive on 50K a year, looks like you did not save for a rainy day……. far to busy splashing the cash and acting like king I suppose. Back to the real world where people live on a lot less, greed got us all into this mess and hard work and living in our means will get us out of it.
The fact that ANY bonus have been paid at any banking institution currently in trouble or in need of/ have had bail out is criminal.
@sod’s law – yes it is entirely possible to live on 50K a year. Sorry to hear about your eviction though. You don’t HAVE to live in London. You can commute from outside the M25. I do and it’s a pleasant, efficient journey into central London. You don’t have to send your kids to an expensive private school and you don’t have to have to have 2 foreign holidays a year.
This is the death knell for Swiss investment banking. First Credit Suisse and its toxic asset bonuses, now this. People are not prepared to put the amount of effort expected in for nothing and these banks will find they have no franchise left when they try to win businesss in future.
and how did people lower down fare?
Your Headhunters are wrong again..they wouldnt know the truth if it bit them
Bonuses are being paid and tho less than last year, they should keep the wolf from the door
what do you expect if half of our fixed income comes from nottingham and warwick universities.. damn commoners
…I do and it’s a pleasant, efficient journey into central London. You don’t have to send your kids to an expensive private school and you don’t have to have to have 2 foreign holidays a year….
Ben, you would be well advised to gain some life experience before posting, if your comment above is to be considered a reliable indication of your views and expectations in 21st century Britain. Sending kids to a private school is essential in this country is you wish to give your kids any chance of success. People fail to recognise that standards in ‘Comprehensive schools’ are incomprehensibly low, with large numbers of students educated by the state leaving the sixth form and struggling to speak or write clearly. For instance, how many people do you see reading the Daily Mail? These sort of people were unfortunate to have been raised by failed parents who could not afford a real education. Let us be clear: State schools are full of rude and uncouth scumbags. I often see kids from state schools with the top button of their shirt undone and their tie incorrectly tied. If they can’t dress properly, it is likely they can’t communicate either. Hence, they will never get into a good job.
“Sending kids to a private school is essential in this country is you wish to give your kids any chance of success”
Well said Banker. Too bad you still can’t type after your GBP 300k+ education…
The end of UBS IBD. Heard that client meetings are already been cancelled by MDs. Clearly choice has been to protect and focus the core WM business
I think the main issue is that UBS management should have distinguished between those who have been profitable for the firm and those who did not. Imagine if they Equites department had not contributed roughly $1.5bn to the bottom line, this would have meant more people would have needed to be fired (affecting families, children’s education and the overall economy) and would have meant the Swiss taxpayer would have needed to put even more money in. By not paying the Equity people any bonuses means a lot of them will leave, taking with them future revenues, which means it will take longer for h Swiss tax payer getting their money back.
To not pay the Fixe Income department any bonuses across all ranks, would have made much more sense. As UBS would not care losing these people as they were not profitable.
It just goes to show the Swiss have no future in Investment Banking
OK Guys here go’s my input! I have worked 10 years at UBS many moons ago when it was UBS, they paid a fair wage and Bonus once apon a time. Now at a lesser French name, who pay badly and management whom only reward and look after their friends. My kids go to state schools, as I could not bare to have to take them out, when the bonus’s disapear, I try and live with in my means.
BUT! now with a huge couple of years P&L, will I get paid, probably not, I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
In this game you have to be a realist, where it’s never an even playing field, where you do not allways get rewarded fairly!!!
I don’t have an awful lot of sympathy for those at UBS who got small/ zero bonuses. Remember lots of UBS exployees like myself have already been cut. Banking is a competitive place where your colleagues will try to climb over your dead body to save their own skin. Survival of the fittest and so on and so forth.. Many of the remaining UBS bankers would have quite happily put down their colleagues’ performance to put themselves in a more secure position. Maybe some of them deserve what they got!
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“Sending kids to a private school is essential in this country is you wish to give your kids any chance of success”
Well said Banker.
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Thank you. Though I can assure you that I do not seek your flattery.
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Too bad you still can’t type after your GBP 300k+ education…
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I would sooner make a simple typing mistake (besides – typing is for secretaries and other such people) than make a monumental error of judgement as to not send my children to a private school.
CA: Please do not have children. I do not wish to see an increase in taxes to fund yet ever more children destined for failure, and subsequent reliance on the state. I really do hope you would never be so cruel to a child as to deny them of a private school education – an experience comparable to, I would imagine, having a parent commit suicide.
My mother retired in 2007 after working for the RBS since 1974. Her leaving salary was 15k pa. She paid off her mortgage about 3 months before retirement. The other thing about my mother is that she left school at 15 with no qualifications.
“You don’t have to send your kids to an expensive private school”
Err, yes you do, unless you want them to associate with the riff raff of society.
It is simply not possible to live on 50k and have a good life, you’ll have a sub-par existence.
Govan Branch, what’s your point?
I went to a state school, studied at Oxbridge, work for a top investment bank and actually got paid up this year compared to last…Alas, this riff raff of society hasn’t done too badly, infact, he will prob be one of those funding your private school childrens dole payments on leaving after they’ve realised they can no longer live off Daddy’s money because Daddy no longer has any
1.In guise of secracy ,the most opaque organisation on the surface of the globe .
2.Investment Banking =no respect for grey hair .
3=1+2 = UBS , Investment Banking SBU = now see your fate
I reckon his point is that without qualifications, skills etc you’ll be teller forever.
I have to say most if you are pretty stupid. You don’t need to send a child to a private school for a good education. Send them if you wish them to mix with spoilt children, who’s parents work 10 hour days and leave the social care to a nanny or more likely a green au pair, which a dubious, made up refernce. Send them if you are far too busy to put the time into your children yourself.
Both my children go to state schools and are far cleverer and better educated than many of my friends childrens at private school.
It amazes me how many of you feel that you will make a good trader or salesman, just because you went to a private school or have your masters degree! whoopee do, Being a trader I like to be judged on my ability and great revenues, and yes I have a state education and most importantly “COMMON SENSE!” ,which many a green graduate trainee lacks now days.
Come on, it’s not exactly science this business and most of you should be paid what you are worth, probably half of 50k
So forget your bonuses and do something worthy of your pay!
One last thing, be lazy employ a cleaner to clean your house, but at least try to give some time and educate your child in life!!!
the only benfit i have noticed of private school is the accent.9 times out of 10 i find you know about as little or as much as any other individual about a topic.The truth is private school offers the ability to make connections, so that no matter what grade or achievement you have made in life daddy knows someone who can always bail you out and get you in somewhere regardless of your own personal achievement.Two types of people work in investment banks the ones who worked their backsides off and those who got in the back door. And the truth is if you cant live on 50 k a yr your personal money management skills are perhaps a fair reflection of all this poor professional money management being demonstrated by todays bankers ie pathetic ; ) .
Uve Been Sacked
Whilst I went to private school and to an extent agree with the notion that private school kids tend to fare better – I have to say that the biggest influence on a child is their parents. If parents bring a child up well, no matter whether they go state school or private schoo, they will turn out smart. I had people in my school who were as thick as two planks and now are probably working as builders or have married a woman with a rich father!
As a recruiter, I can tell you something about private schools – they are ESSENTIAL for success in SOME areas within banking. For traders, I actually often prefer comprehensive school kids – they are often more ambitious and driven to make lots of money to move up the socioeconomic ladder. However, for Sales jobs, some ambitious kid without contacts has NO chance of getting rated above someone who went to a school where all his mates are now clients on the buy-side. So I’ll always get kids from Eton and Westminster over any state school kid for Sales roles, even if they’re not as “good”. Similarly with corporate broking roles where you need to schmooze management, a public school kid who knows their hunting, shooting, wine tasting will always outshine the ambitious state-schooler. There’s some food for thought.
..I have to say that the biggest influence on a child is their parents. If parents bring a child up well, no matter whether they go state school or private schoo, they will turn out smart…
I completely agree. Let there be no uncertainty surrounding the influence that parents have on their children. A poor upbringing – measured as much by the financial means of the family as the values and beliefs of the parents – will damage a child’s prospects beyond what a private school can offer. I know many children who I went to private school with who have failed to develop to the standard that one would expect from having a good upbringing. They are socially inept, routinely fail to address people politely, expect material objects to be given to them through a sense of inflated entitlement, and, often, fail to appreciate the importance of diligence in academia and the corporate world, which are the foundations of success.
Conversely, it is regrettable that the environment in many states schools can hinder the prospects of ambitious students. Discipline is often poor and standards are low. Private schools provide the environment for success; but of course, the upbringing must be sou
george – you have brought clearly into the light what all the other pro- private school posters here have been alluding to but never could say. This shows us starkly the society we live in, where connections and background triumph over ability, ambition and drive. No wonder so many FTSE100 companies perform so badly. The bigger question though is why FTSE 100 companies or the buy-side would want to employ these private school graduates. Do they like their CEOs to go hunting, shooting and wine tasting?
George – you make some interesting, and valid, points. However, like many of the posts on here it is one-sided. Lowly “comp” kids, tend to know more about football. This is a key area of common ground for men. I am not joking, this is a serious point. In fact, privately educated candidates that i have come across TEND to have less of an interest in sport IN GENERAL (obvious exceptions), and typically don’t have as broader spectrum in this respect. I am an MD at a Euro IB, on the sales side, and the ability to be able to discuss and enjoy sport, soccer in particular, is key. I totally agree that a private education gives a clear advantage in finding common ground with clients in, among others, the disciplines you mention above. It’s all about balance; i have some clients who would indeed regard the approach of some of my staff as uncouth, whilst i have others, equally valuable, who would laugh people out of the room if they didn’t have knowledge of the previous weekends’ football / cricket / rugby / golf etc without good reason!
The point is all these winging poms complaining that they do not have enough to live on. Govan is where Gordon Brown’s late father was a Minister with the Church of Scotland.
You can’t assume that because someone went to a state school, they are simply foul-mouthed jobs! Just like you can’t expect every privately-educated child to be called Tarquin or superbly intelligent. Obviously, by going to a private school, you’re going to find it easier to network with people who work in top firms – but it doesn’t mean that state-educated children can’t be successful. The prejudice on here is unreal, but more importantly doesn’t bear up to the facts.
christian,
this prejudice has been going on for centuries. It’s how the aristocracy came into being. It’s not going to end either……