As sky high executive pay causes growing discomfort in Switzerland, the Chief Executive and Board of Directors of Credit Suisse are offering to take a 40 percent off their annual bonuses.

CEO Tidjane Thiam and the board tried this preemptive strike to get in front of the issue just before Credit Suisse's annual investors' meeting on 28 April; they're also proposing to keep total board pay at the same level as 2015 and 2016.  Shareholders and Swiss lawmakers had threatened to do something about executive compensation.

"My highest priority is to see through the turnaround of Credit Suisse which is under way," Mr. Thiam wrote in a letter to shareholders.  "I hope that this decision will alleviate some of the concerns expressed by some shareholders and will allow the executive team to continue to focus on the task at hand."

Credit Suisse has posted two straight years of losses - but its top 12 executives were awarded more than AU$100 Million in pay this year.  Mr. Thiam got more than AU$15.7 Million of that.