Former UBS AG chief Marcel Ospel, at the centre of a Swiss media campaign against excessive pay for UBS bankers, and other ex-board members agreed on Tuesday to return 33 million Swiss francs ($27.5 million) in payments from the bank.
Ospel, who quit as UBS chairman in April, has been asked by Swiss media to return his hefty pay check. Under his chairmanship UBS carried out the aggressive risk-taking strategy in the United States which nearly brought the Swiss bank to its knees as the credit crisis hit.
"I hope that my action will help to resolve a situation that was inconceivable to me until a short time ago," Ospel said in a statement, as he offered to give up payments which accounted for more than two thirds of the 33-million-franc total.
The announcement comes days after UBS, which is struggling to recover from the subprime crisis and has been criticised for its pay structure, announced a more transparent pay system and said its current board would not receive bonuses this year.
Neither UBS nor Ospel's spokesman would give details on what proportion of their total remuneration the former UBS executives were giving back.
UBS' subprime woes prompted the Swiss state to inject 6 billion Swiss francs into the bank, causing a public outcry. Earlier this month, nearly a thousand people demonstrated against bankers' large salaries outside UBS' headquarters in Zurich, an unusual sight in traditionally restrained Switzerland.
Bank executives across Europe are under pressure to waive bonus payments in the face of plummeting share prices. Some, including top bankers at Barclays and Deutsche Bank, have already agreed to give up their bonuses this year.
"The move to forfeit the remuneration is entirely voluntary and should in no way be construed as an admission of guilt in a legal sense," the statement said of the former UBS executives' decision.
The other executives involved are former Deputy Chairman Stephan Haeringer and former Chief Financial Officer Marco Suter.
The move could give an image boost to UBS, which is attempting to rebuild its name in the crisis.
Former Chief Executive Officer Peter Wuffli said earlier this month he was turning down bonuses worth 12 million Swiss francs.
UBS shares were up 8.5 percent, outperforming the DJ Stoxx index of European banks, which was up 5 percent at 1533 GMT.
