A majority of shareholders approved the executive pay packages at Credit Suisse on Friday, amid backlash from some investors with the bank facing $1 billion worth of losses.
Shareholders approved all four of the Swiss bank's proposed pay packages and bonuses for top management in binding votes at its annual general meeting, Reuters reported. Nearly 85 percent of shareholders voted for a fixed-term pay for the executive board. In another vote, close to 82 percent voted for a proposed long-term bonus pay.
Shareholders gathered Friday for the annual general meeting in Zurich to discuss the bank's strategy. Speaking at the meeting, CEO Tidjane Thiam warned investors of a tough year ahead and said the bank's share price development in recent months has been disappointing.
Thiam said that the performance of Credit Suisse's wealth management business in 2015 was good and remained strong during the first quarter of 2016, but volatile results from its investment bank have manifested itself in poor performance in the fourth quarter of 2015 and to a lesser extent in the first quarter of 2016.
The bank has come under fire from its shareholders in the wake of $1 billion worth of losses at the bank which date back from October and highlighted by Thiam in March. Thiam himself faces questions over his bonus package and to compound problems Credit Suisse's share price are down nearly 41 percent since Thiam took over in July last year.
"The responsibility is with the board and the president of the board," Hans Jacob Heitz, a lawyer and one of the shareholders, told CNBC in Zurich on Friday before the vote.
"We have to think about whether there should be a change. What we don't understand at all is that the previous CEO, Brady Dougan, is responsible for the situation we have today. They have rewarded him and paid him many bonuses and I am demanding he has to pay this back."
Another shareholder spoke to CNBC ahead of the meeting and said the board will make losses or destroy whatever has been built up by the previous management and then take money for that.
Thiam joined last year from Prudential, giving investors hope that he would look at the banking industry from a fresh perspective. However, confidence was shaken when he said it was only in February this year that he found out about the scale of the bank's risky credit trading positions. His bonus for his six months in the job last year was 2.86 million francs ($2.96 million), according to Reuters.
Robert McCormick, chief policy officer at advisory firm Glass Lewis – another Credit Suisse shareholder - warned against the lack of disclosure. In an interview with CNBC, McCormick said the problem is not just that payments were made when the company lost $1 billion but the audacity with which these decisions were made and who received these awards.