If you’d told me yesterday that there were consequences for losing tons of money, I would’ve said, “Fuck you! Is this your idea of a sick joke?” But apparently? There are. According to DealBook, in one of its many efforts to cut costs following a not so good third quarter, that Swiss bank on Park will paying more of its bonuses in the form of UBS stock. Stock which, while it may be declining today, could possibly be worth something tomorrow, but could just as easily be worth even less, if employees fail to keep their eyes on the ball during the fourth quarter, which, historically, they’ve been known to do (not necessarily their faults: there are a lot of good Christmas specials on TV at this time. You'd lose focus, too).
As Bonuses Look Leaner, UBS Takes Stock [DealBook]
Bonus Watch '13: UBS Hedge Fund Employees None Too Happy To Be Treated Like UBS Employees
The Swiss are scheduled to communicate bonus numbers today. In the meantime, those working in UBS's O'Connor fund are preemptively pissed re: the news their compensation will be structured as though they were regular old employees of the bank. What are they doing about it?
Bonus Watch '13: UBS
The Swiss bank will reportedly announce today that it's going to be doing things a little differently around here re: compensation. One, deferrals will start at $250,000 and two, rather than being paid in UBS stock, the non-cash portion of 6,500 senior employees' bonuses will come in the form of subordinated debt that can and will be wiped out in the event the amount of capital on hand falls below the level required by EU regulators, putting the onus on everyone to make sure no one pulls an Adoboli and avoids multi-billion dollar fuck-ups in general.