from Hacker News

Credit Suisse confirms 50% bonus cut, Zero for Exec, amid terrible results

by aruanavekar on 2/9/23, 6:57 PM with 43 comments

  • by thwayunion on 2/9/23, 7:25 PM

    Credit Suisse is in free-fall. Down 83% in fixed income sales and trading. Down 95% in equities sales and trading. Down by half in M&A. On trial for cocaine dealing.

    A bank losing all its income and going down in a criminal probe into a coke dealer. It'd be a good SNL skit if there weren't so many lives on the line.

    It's amazing a bonus pool exists at all.

  • by andrewstuart on 2/9/23, 7:27 PM

    They're talking in percentage terms because you'd be shocked if they were talking cash.

    Traders get million pound bonuses. or more. Goodness knows what a bonus is worth, but I'd be extremely happy with 50% of whatever it is.

    It might seem odd to be paying bonuses at all, but to be fair, mega bonuses are part of the culture of share trading and if you have no bonuses then you have no traders, they'll go elsewhere.

  • by rqtwteye on 2/9/23, 7:45 PM

    “ It has, however, increased salaries.”

    These guys can’t lose. They either win or win big time even while running their company into the ground. Time for some government bailouts so they can go on a luxury retreat like AIG execs did in 2008.

  • by Wonnk13 on 2/9/23, 8:19 PM

    I did some consulting work for them in the Canary Wharf office back in maybe 2016?-ish. Even then it was clear the firm was in free fall- I've never seen anything like it and that's all I'll say.

  • by bogomipz on 2/9/23, 8:41 PM

    Relatedly:

    "Crooks, kleptocrats and crises: a timeline of Credit Suisse scandals"

    https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/feb/21/tax-timeline-cr...

  • by SeanAnderson on 2/9/23, 7:28 PM

    So, is Credit Suisse considered "too big to fail?" If no, are there any ramifications if it were to collapse? It seems like the writing has been on the wall for a while now, so I would hope preparations have been made and it would not be catastrophic, but it's honestly a little crazy to see a ~170 year old institution getting this close to shuttering.

  • by creddit on 2/9/23, 8:06 PM

    CS has been the worst IB in the industry for years. Really embarrassing for the Swiss.

  • by honkler on 2/9/23, 9:12 PM

    many commenters say CS is too big to fail. I wonder if the Swiss government would do a referendum on this.

  • by roundandround on 2/9/23, 7:26 PM

    This article needs layoffs, is there a TLDR?