CREDIT SUISSE, the Swiss bank, said yesterday that it would be forced to make an additional charge of 610 million Swiss francs (£270 million) in the final quarter of last year because of changes to US accounting regulations.
This year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American regulator, said that it planned to change the way in which share-based compensation schemes were expensed. The changes were in response to a number of corporate scandals involving excessive executive perks.
Credit Suisse, which will publish its results next week, said that as a result of the change its full-year net income would fall by SwFr421 million. The additional charges at Credit Suisse are to cover shares and options paid to employees.
UBS, Credit Suisse’s main competitor, said yesterday that it would not follow Credit Suisse as it did not report under the specific US accounting regulations. UBS is to unveil its full-year profits today.
The SEC’s plan to increase disclosure of executive pay aims to get top corporate officials to take more responsibility for the truth and accuracy of descriptions of their executives’ compensation plans. Under the proposed rules, the value of perks, including tax consultants, company cars and club memberships, would be added to a director’s salary and other bonuses to give the total compensation for the year.