Credit Suisse

Proxy adviser Glass Lewis on Tuesday recommended Credit Suisse shareholders reject its proposal to pay 25.99 million Swiss francs ($25.9 million) in short-term bonuses to the executive board in a binding vote at the April 28 annual general meeting.

The amount appears “wholly inappropriate given the loss suffered by shareholders in the last two fiscal years,” the San Francisco-based proxy adviser said in its recommendations for the bank’s annual meeting on April 28. Proposed compensation for the board of directors is “excessive,” as Bloomberg reported.

Credit Suisse extended its global charm offensive on Monday insisting it has "zero tolerance" for tax evasion after hundreds of its clients and top employees became the target of an international fraud probe.

The Zurich-based bank took out multiple adverts in British newspapers over the weekend as part of a damage-limitation effort after law enforcement agencies descended on three of its European offices Friday in a coordinated raid related to a tax evasion and money laundering probe.

"Credit Suisse applies a strict zero tolerance policy and wishes to conduct business with clients that have paid their taxes and fully declared their assets," Monday’s ad said. The bank complies "with all applicable laws" in areas where it operates, it added.

Credit Suisse, surprised by a five-country tax evasion and money laundering investigation, said it has a “zero tolerance policy” on tax evasion in advertisements taken out in the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph and Observer, U.K. newspapers on Sunday.

The Swiss bank’s two-page ads, which included seven bullet points in response to the probes disclosed last week, also said a 2011 internal compliance review caused it to terminate relationships with clients who didn’t prove they paid their taxes.

“This led to very significant asset outflows as we do not want to do business with clients who are unwilling to provide the required evidence,” said the ads. “Credit Suisse applies a strict zero tolerance policy on tax evasion.”

The two big banks are yet again trading neck to neck. Indeed, both their share prices have been oscillating slightly below the CHF 16 mark for more than two months (between 15 and 16 for UBS and 14 and 16 for Crédit Suisse). Crédit Suisse lags a bit following the sharp fall it saw in early 2016, yet its higher beta of 1.57 (1.07 for UBS) has enabled it to catch up most of this underperformance. We expect more ring-fencing between the two over the next few months.

Australia has identified more than 340 individuals with links to Swiss banking relationship managers alleged to have actively promoted and facilitated tax evasion schemes, a federal minister said on Friday.

The Serious Financial Crime Taskforce said the joint investigation had identified 346 nationals with links to Swiss banking relationship managers alleged to have promoted and facilitated tax evasion schemes.

Authorities in the Netherlands said the probe related to as many as 55,000 suspect accounts held at a Swiss bank, which officials refused to identify however Credit Suisse later released a statement to confirm its involvement in the investigation.

The statement did not identify the bank but Credit Suisse’s London, Paris and Amsterdam offices were contacted by local authorities over client tax matters, the Zurich-based banks confirmed on Friday, after Dutch prosecutors said they had seized assets and arrested two people in an international hunt for tax evaders, as Financial Times reported in the morning. Credit Suisse spokeswoman Anna Sexton declined to comment further.

Credit Suisse increased its bonus pool by 6%, defying a trend toward smaller payouts at many of its peers in an effort to prevent an exodus of talent from its investment banking and Asian operations. That followed a second straight year in the red for the bank amid a major restructuring and steep penalties for the sale of toxic mortgage debt in the run-up to the financial crisis.

CEO Tidjane Thiam’s pay for his first full year in the job swelled to 11.9 million Swiss francs ($12 million), the 2016 annual report of Switzerland’s second-biggest bank showed on Friday. This compared with the 4.57 million francs he earned in 2015 after joining the bank on June 22.

A senior executive at Credit Suisse Taiwan Elsa Chiu and her husband were released on bail early Wednesday after being interrogate about alleged insider trading in the takeover of Hermes Microvision by ASML of the Netherlands, Taipei District Prosecutors Office spokesman Chang Chieh-Chin told Reuters.

"During the merger and acquisition activities, there were some trading irregularities, and the stock exchange regulator detected this irregular trading," said Chang, who is also a deputy chief prosecutor.