Swiss Bank UBS Slammed Over 28% Bonus Hike in 2013

Swiss banking giant UBS has been slammed for increasing its bonus payments by 28% in 2013.

Critics claimed the lender's previous bonus cut was short-lived and banks have not "learned lessons" from the financial crisis of 2008.

"It is offensive when bonuses outpace profits," said Roby Tschopp, head of activist shareholder group Actares.

Actares voted against UBS's pay plan in 2013 and Tschopp said he did not know how he will vote this year.

Thomas Zimmermann, a spokesman for labour union umbrella group Schweizerischer Gewerkschaftsbund, also criticised the bank.

"UBS is carrying on as if nothing happened," Zimmermann said.

He added: "They have learned nothing from the public debate about the Minder initiative or the 1:12 initiative."

Zimmermann was referring to measures on executive pay introduced in Switzerland last year, which give shareholders a binding vote on compensation.

But voters rejected a proposal to limit executive pay to 12 times that of junior staff.

The comments come after UBS said it had increased its bonus pool for 2013 by 28% to 3.2bn Swiss francs ($3.5bn, £2.1bn), up from 2.5bn francs in 2012.

UBS said its 60,000 staff would share in the bonus pool.

The bank told Reuters it needed to reduce a pay gap between UBS and other banks, adding that the increase was justified after a "transformational" year in which it swung to higher than expected net profit and surpassed most of its turnaround targets.

UBS had not responded to request for comment at the time of publication.