Loss-hit UBS 'trims bonuses but ups pay'

Banking giant UBS, facing mounting losses and increasingly aggressive legal action by the US taxman, is said to be doubling some senior investment bankers' pay to offset lower bonuses.

Some salaries for senior UBS bankers are being more than doubled to about £300,000 from £120,000.

Insiders said the step is part of a bigger overhaul of the pay regime at the bank, which employs about 7000 in the City. News of the move, reported in the New York Times, comes just days after the Financial Services Authority pushed banks to reduce the bonus part of bankers' packages to make it easier to cut performance pay in bad years.

UBS agreed to change its compensation practices when it received a Swiss government bailout last year, and is slashing investment bankers' bonuses by more than 80%.

Chief executive Oswald Grübel says it may take two to three years for the bank to make a sustainable profit.