Shareholders of Julius Baer Group Ltd., Switzerland's third-largest wealth manager, rejected the bank's 2012 remuneration report in a non-binding vote.
In an advisory vote at the annual general meeting in Zurich on Wednesday, 64% of investors rebuffed executive pay, including total compensation of 6.7 million Swiss francs ($7.2 million) for CEO Boris Collardi.
“The board of directors will take the appropriate measures to work toward a positive vote at the next” annual meeting, Julius Baer said in an e-mailed statement.
The Swiss government and parliament are considering how to translate some of the world's toughest rules on executive pay into national law after voters backed curbs in a March referendum. At least five of Europe's 20 highest-paid CEOs work for Swiss companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The initiative gives shareholders an annual ballot on managers' pay, eliminates sign-on bonuses as well as severance packages and extra incentives for completing merger transactions. It also includes rules punishing executives who violate the terms with time in jail.
The European Union separately approved rules banning bonuses of more than twice bankers' fixed pay in the 27-nation bloc at a meeting in March. Switzerland isn't an EU member.
