UBS's New European Unit Handed Out $258 Million in Pay Last Year

(Bloomberg) -- UBS Group AG’s newly established European entity handed out 219.4 million euros ($258.4 million) in total pay last year, the first time the world’s largest wealth manager reported remuneration for the unit.

UBS said in a filing that it paid 45.2 million euros in bonuses to 1,695 employees at the unit, which bundles the wealth management operations in Europe and has a license for investment-banking services. Three employees earned between 1.5 million euros and 2 million euros in 2016.

An official for the bank declined to comment.

UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, bundled its European wealth management operations last year in a push to cut costs. UBS also recently combined its cross-border operations and onshore businesses in a set-up that will reduce the number of offshore booking centers from about 10 to three -- Switzerland, Germany, and the U.K. The European onshore businesses will be integrated in the bank’s new continental hub in Frankfurt.

For the group, the bank cut the bonus pool for 2016 by 17 percent to 2.9 billion Swiss francs ($3 billion), according to its annual report. Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti remained the highest-paid executive at the Zurich-based lender, with a total compensation of 13.7 million francs, down from the 14.3 million francs he received in 2015.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jan-Henrik Förster in Zurich at jforster20@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Christian Baumgaertel, Paul Armstrong