(Reuters) – Swiss lender UBS Group AG has stepped up efforts to recoup hundreds of millions in cash bonuses that Credit Suisse paid to retain dealmakers before the lender’s collapse, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
UBS has contacted hundreds of bankers and offered some multi-year payment plans amid efforts to claw back a chunk of the 1.2 billion Swiss francs ($1.38 billion) in restricted cash bonuses, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter and documents seen by it.
The amount that UBS is seeking to recover is less than 651 million Swiss francs, the report said.
UBS earlier in the year took over Credit Suisse, in the biggest bank merger since the global financial crisis and it was orchestrated by the Swiss state to avert Credit Suisse’s collapse.
Since swallowing up its stricken rival, UBS has embarked on a more than $10 billion cost-cut plan, and has said it will axe 3,000 jobs in Switzerland alone.
UBS did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
($1 = 0.8709 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
