UBS boss Ermotti’s pay stays at US$19.1 million in 2025

[ZURICH] The pay package of UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti was 14.9 million Swiss francs (S$24.5 million) in 2025, the bank said on Monday (Mar 9), unchanged from the same amount in 2024.

Total fixed and variable compensation for the group’s executive board in 2025 was 145.3 million Swiss francs, its annual report revealed.

The group-wide bonus pool stood at US$5.1 billion in 2025, compared with US$4.7 billion in 2024.

Ermotti’s salary is politically sensitive, as high bonuses for banking bosses have triggered backlash by Swiss officials in the past.

The country is updating its banking regulation after the 2023 collapse of Credit Suisse. The bank was bought by UBS in a state-engineered emergency takeover.

Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, who is in charge of the overhaul, said in 2024 that she would have to work for 30 years to earn the equivalent of Ermotti’s pay.

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In the coming weeks, Switzerland’s governing federal council is set to release its proposal on a key capital measure that UBS said would render it uncompetitive.

The measure will then be sent to parliament for lawmakers to shape it into a final rule, upon which it will be adopted.

Swiss pharma giant Novartis’ CEO Vasant Narasimhan received a compensation package of 24.9 million Swiss francs for 2025, which proxy advisory company Ethos called “particularly excessive”. REUTERS