World News | Swiss suspends bonuses to Credit Suisse employees

GENEVA, March 21 (AP) — The Swiss government said Tuesday it ordered Credit Suisse to temporarily stop paying staff bonuses after laying out a plan for rival UBS AG to take over Switzerland’s second-largest bank .

The Swiss finance ministry said federal law allows the government to institute “remuneration-related measures” in cases involving Switzerland’s largest bank.

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Late last week and over the weekend, Swiss authorities, backed by the central bank and financial regulators, scrambled to sell Credit Suisse to UBS for $3.25 billion.

Deposit outflows and years of trouble have fueled fears it could fail and spark an international financial crisis following the collapse of two U.S. banks.

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The Swiss government said it had no intention of blocking bonus payments that had been made last year but would be paid immediately because it did not want to punish Credit Suisse employees who “did not cause a crisis”.

But authorities in the capital Bern said they would ban the payment of “deferred” bonuses – even if they had already been paid – except for those “already in the process of being paid”. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)