As a number of American banks resist calls to rein in executive pay, the unthinkable is happening -- at least in Switzerland, where three former officials of UBS, the troubled Swiss financial giant, said on Tuesday that they would forgo more than $27 million in compensation. <...> "That is almost unheard of," Dirk Jenter, an assistant professor of finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, said of the move by the executives. "They've clearly been shamed into doing that." But shame has been much less effective on this side of the Atlantic, where companies have resisted cutting bonuses and salaries even as their businesses crater. Only in recent weeks have companies receiving taxpayer assistance, including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, agreed to reduce or eliminate bonus payments to current executives. <...> In their press release, the three former UBS board members noted that their decision should not be considered an admission of guilt "in a legal sense." Asked whether he thought executives at Wall Street firms might follow the example of their counterparts in Switzerland, Mr. Jenter was skeptical. "I would not put my money on it -- not that I have much left after what the market has been doing," Mr. Jenter said. "But it certainly seems unlikely."
"That is almost unheard of," Dirk Jenter, an assistant professor of finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, said of the move by the executives. "They've clearly been shamed into doing that."
But shame has been much less effective on this side of the Atlantic, where companies have resisted cutting bonuses and salaries even as their businesses crater. Only in recent weeks have companies receiving taxpayer assistance, including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, agreed to reduce or eliminate bonus payments to current executives. <...>
In their press release, the three former UBS board members noted that their decision should not be considered an admission of guilt "in a legal sense."
Asked whether he thought executives at Wall Street firms might follow the example of their counterparts in Switzerland, Mr. Jenter was skeptical.
"I would not put my money on it -- not that I have much left after what the market has been doing," Mr. Jenter said. "But it certainly seems unlikely."
