Credit Suisse to Cut Bonus Pool by 20 Percent — Paper

Credit Suisse will cut its bonus pool for 2012 by 20 percent to around 2.3 billion Swiss francs ($2.52 billion), the fourth year in a row the Swiss bank has slashed payouts, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

ZURICH, Jan 14 Credit Suisse will cut its bonus pool for 2012 by 20 percent to around 2.3 billion Swiss francs ($2.52 billion), the fourth year in a row the Swiss bank has slashed payouts, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Citing unnamed sources, Der Sonntag newspaper said the 20,000 employees of Credit Suisse's investment bank were allocated significantly over 1 billion francs, while the 14,000 staff of the private bank would get some 400-500 million francs.

A Credit Suisse spokeswoman declined to comment.

The expected payout of 2.3 billion francs compares to 3 billion francs the bank allotted to bonuses in 2011 and 5 billion it paid in 2010. Der Sonntag said the bonus pool was likely to sink another 20 percent this year to 1.8 billion francs.

Credit Suisse, which like other global investment banks has suffered from sluggish markets in the wake of the financial crisis, is axing jobs as it seeks to make 4 billion francs of cost savings by 2015.

Reuters reported earlier this month that the bank is preparing to offload more risk exposure to investment bank staff in its 2012 bonus giveaway but significantly fewer managers will be allowed to join the scheme.

The creation of a new Credit Suisse scheme comes as banks bow to the demands of shareholders and regulators to move away from cash bonuses in favour of alternatives that are more aligned with the risks bankers are taking.

Two earlier schemes have helped the bank to transfer $17 billion of troubled loans and derivatives off its balance sheet and have also allowed the bank to save about $1.4 billion on cash or share-based bonus payments.

Further details of the Plus Bond, which will have a "similar" structure and composition to the 2011 scheme, will be announced to staff later in January, a spokesman has said. ($1 = 0.9123 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Catherine Evans)