UBS to pay 2 bln francs bonuses for 2008-paper

[Joanne98]

ZURICH, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Switzerland's UBS (UBS.N) (UBSN.VX), the world's largest wealth management bank in terms of assets, will pay out 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.73 billion) in bonuses for 2008, even though it received a state bailout, Swiss Sunday paper Sonntagszeitung reported.

The bank agreed the bonus, which equates to about 26,000 francs for each of the bank's 77,000 employees, with Swiss financial regulator Finma after originally seeking a higher payout of more than 3 billion francs, the paper said.

The bank was also negotiating with Finma for a new bonus scheme for managers, to be introduced in the second quarter, that would mean managers only received bonuses if the bank operated profitably.

UBS, which has written down $49 billion in the financial crisis, transferred about $60 billion in toxic assets to a central bank-run fund, thus removing uncertainty about more writedowns, although an 8 billion franc fourth-quarter loss is still expected.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSB69043020090125

I guess this means Phil Graham is getting a bonus. I wonder if he is going to pay TAXES on it!