UBS Wealth Management Americas Pays More Than Other Swiss Banks

This last week was Swiss banks' results week. UBS, Credit Suisse, Vontobel and Julius Baer all provided details of their performance during 2012.

Their figures reveal significant discrepancies in pay per head, with Vontobel in particular paying substantially more to its asset managers than UBS does (Credit Suisse no longer breaks out results for its asset management division and therefore hasn't been added to the charts below).

In private banking and wealth management, UBS's US-based wealth managers are better paid than private bankers at Vontobel and Julius Baer. UBS's US wealth managers also look more handsomely remunerated than its own private bankers in other locations - although it's worth bearing in mind that both UBS and Credit Suisse include elements of retail banking in their international wealth management divisions and that these may depress figures for pay per head. Conversely, the figures for Vontobel and Julius Baer offer a good idea of how much you could expect to earn working as a private banker in Switzerland.

Finally, in investment banking UBS has overtaken Credit Suisse in terms of pay per head for its investment bankers. Last year,  the average investment banker at UBS earned 6% more than the average investment banker at Credit Suisse and 30% more than his or her counterpart at Vontobel. UBS's pay preeminence  marks a reversal of the situation that existed immediately after the financial crisis. In 2008 and 2009 Credit Suisse paid its investment bankers 25%-30% more than UBS did.

All figures in the charts below are provided for full year 2012.