Bonuses bonanza on way at UBS

MOST of the 6,000 investment banking staff at UBS in London are in line for a healthy rise in annual bonuses after a pick-up in deals work sent profits soaring

But there was grim news for hundreds of its City backroom staff as chairman Peter Wuffli threatened the bank may eventually move chunks of its 3,000-strong global IT force to India.

'I would not be surprised if, over time, our people outsourced or offshored capabilities to India and realised savings,' he said.

Bonus winners will be in fixed-income, derivatives, proprietary trading and, unusually for the current market, equities. The final three months was a 'record underwriting quarter', the bank said as it posted full-year results.

Ex-PaineWebber UBS executives Mark Sutton and Joe Grano shared $31.9m (£17.2m) of 'merger-related payments' between 2002 and 2003 for staying on after UBS bought the US bank in 2000. Grano left in January.

UBS chairman Marcel Ospel took a near-50% rise in his pay package, to Swfr17.2m (£7.5m) in 2003 from Swfr11.3m in 2002.

Group fourth-quarter net profits of Swfr1.86bn compared with a Swfr108m loss last year, while full-year net profits were up a third to Swfr6.38bn.

UBS is buying the UK's Laing & Cruickshank Investment Management from Credit Lyonnais for £160m, turning many of Cruickshank's 50 partners - who own 25% of the business - into instant millionaires.

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