Swiss citizens voted on Sunday to impose some of the world''s strictest controls on executive pay, forcing public companies to give shareholders a binding vote on compensation, result projections showed. Claude Longchamp of pollsters Gfs.
Bern told Swiss state television early returns in a referendum showed 68 percent backed allowing shareholders to veto executive pay proposals and a ban on big rewards for new and departing managers.
While anger at multi-million dollar payouts for executives has spread around the globe since the financial crisis, Swiss direct democracy - including four national referendums a year - means public outrage can be translated into action. A few other countries, including the United States and Germany, have introduced advisory "say on pay" votes and Britain is also planning to give shareholders a binding vote on pay and "exit payments" at least every three years. Brussels agreed a cap on bankers'' bonuses last week.
The clear majority in Switzerland was unusual given fierce opposition and intense campaigning by business lobby group Economiesuisse, which warned the proposals would damage the country''s competitiveness and scare away international talent.
Support for the move was driven partly by big bonuses blamed for fuelling risky investments that nearly felled Swiss bank UBS , as well as outrage over a proposed $78 million payment to outgoing Novartis chairman Daniel Vasella. "The clear support for the initiative reflects the understandable anger of the electorate at the self-serving mentality of certain managers," said a group representing most of the parties in parliament which opposed the plan. "With their misconduct, they have done the economy as a whole a disservice."