UBS investors protest against pay plan UBS shareholders dealt the Swiss bank's top management a severe blow on Thursday after only 60 per cent of the capital represented at this year's annual meeting approved group plans in a "say on pay." Almost 37 per cent voted against the proposal, while a further 3 per cent abstained. Minutes later, an even bigger proportion of shareholders opposed the formal "discharge" - approval for the board of directors and the bank's top management - for 2011. More than 39 per cent voted against while 8 per cent abstained, leaving less than 53 per cent to back the discharge. The level of opposition was exceptionally high for Switzerland, where bankers" pay has been somewhat less controversial than in some other European countries. But shareholders, who have followed the bank through the tribulations of the credit crisis and last year's $2.2bn "unauthorised trading incident" in London, have shown growing impatience with big banks in general and UBS in particular. Last week, almost one-third of shareholders at Credit Suisse opposed pay levels. That followed a 26.9 per cent revolt against top level salaries at Barclays. The UBS vote, four hours into what appeared set to be a marathon meeting, also put at risk a later agenda item on raising new capital, which under the group's statutes would require a two-thirds majority to pass. In the eventual vote only 62 per cent approved. "We find it regrettable," said Kaspar Villiger, the outgoing UBS chairman. Shareholders voiced disquiet about a range of pay-related issues, including the "golden hello" being paid to Axel Weber, the former Bundesbank president who is joining the board and is due to be appointed chairman. Mr Weber is to receive SFr2m in cash and a further 200,000 UBS shares, blocked for a year, worth more than SFr2m at Thursday's market price. Concerns were also expressed over potential pay for Andrea Orcel, the London-based former Bank of America investment banker who is moving to UBS. "Big bankers" pay hasn't been tamed at all. It's as though UBS hasn't learned any lessons at all from the past crises," said Brigitta Moser-Harder, one of many small shareholders who took the podium to express their displeasure. The meeting was attended by more than 3,400 shareholders, fewer than in the dark days of 2008, when UBS was obliged to stage three extraordinary meetings to approve special measures to remain afloat. However, sentiment was evidently more aggressive than at last year's relatively smooth meeting, when then chief executive Oswald Grübel reassured investors UBS was back on track. Since then, Mr Grübel has stepped down over the London trading scandal and been replaced by Sergio Ermotti, a smooth-talking Swiss-Italian investment banker who only joined the group a year ago. Mr Ermotti said his priorities were to build further the bank's capital, keep costs firmly under control and maintain top class risk management. The shareholder rebellion over the "say on pay" was spearheaded by Ethos and Actares, two Swiss activist investors. The opposition came in spite of UBS reporting relatively strong first-quarter results on Wednesday and issuing an uncharacteristically upbeat outlook statement. The group's annual report, published last month, also revealed it had sharply reduced pay for its top executives.