Credit Suisse is sticking with bonuses in the billions

MArcel Rohner, President of the Swiss Bankers Association, was asked at his association’s annual press conference on Tuesday whether he had any thoughts after the crash of the Swiss Bankers Association CreditSuisse personally willing to forego his bonuses. The Swiss then had to smile involuntarily. He has long since gotten used to being mistaken for Urs Rohner. But Marcel Rohner has nothing to do with the long-standing CS chairman of the board of directors, who is widely blamed for the devastating decline of the second largest Swiss bank. He is not related to him, nor has he ever worked for Credit Suisse.

From July 2007 to February 2009 he was chairman of the board UBS – i.e. the bank that is now taking over CS in a quick rescue operation. And with a view to his time at the head of UBS, Rohner attaches importance to the fact that he did not pocket any bonuses in those years marked by the financial crisis and the high losses that came with it: “I said at the time: As head of a bank, the losses you don’t get a bonus.”