YUM YUM….Entertaining news from the gnomes of Zurich:
Credit Suisse Group said Thursday it will use up to $5 billion of its own illiquid assets such as mortgage securities to pay senior staff year-end bonuses at its investment bank, a move meant to spread risk more evenly between the bank and its employees.
The Zurich-based bank plans to pool commercial mortgage-backed securities and leveraged loans it can’t sell because demand has seized up, then dole out units in the entity to managing directors and directors as part of this year’s pay, according to a memo made available by a spokesman.
There’s certainly an appeal to this, isn’t there? Eating their own dog food, so to speak. Or their own toxic waste, as the case may be. I wonder if this idea will spread to Wall Street?
