MILAN (Reuters) – UBS is not involved in any discussions over Italian banker Andrea Orcel’s 55 million euro ($67 million) deferred pay package forfeited when he left the Swiss bank to join Santander, the UBS chairman said on Thursday.
Orcel left UBS in 2018 to become the chief executive of Santander. But the Spanish bank withdrew its proposal after disagreements over Orcel’s pay. Before that, it had promised to pay up to 35 million euros of Orcel’s deferred compensation.
Orcel is now seeking 112 million euros in a lawsuit against Santander which he is expected to resolve before taking the helm at UniCredit.
Italy’s second biggest bank on Wednesday said it would appoint Orcel, 57, as its next chief executive in April.
UBS chairman Axel Weber, speaking to Bloomberg Television, said UBS’s rules stated clearly that deferred pay would be lost if staff left the bank.
“We have a very clear policy which can be summarised in two words, it’s ‘leave, lose'”.
“If executives take another turn in their career and join another organisation, it’s their decision,” he said when asked if UBS would show any flexibility on Orcel’s deferred compensation.
“It has no implications for us so we’re not in any part of the discussions on this, we have a clear policy which we have communicated throughout,” he added.
A source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday Orcel was open to negotiating a settlement with Santander and would be ready to almost halve his claims to 60 million euros.
($1 = 0.8242 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za. Editing by Jane Merriman)
