The Business On... Brady Dougan, Chief executive, Credit Suisse
He's in the money, we hear?
Indeed – Credit Suisse revealed yesterday that Mr Dougan was paid Sfr12.8m (£8.7m) last year.
So the good times are back?
Well, it's a huge sum, for sure – but not as huge as the Sfr19.2m he got in 2009. And not only did his pay and bonus fall by more than a third last year, there is speculation that Mr Dougan earned nothing at all from a separate pay scheme for executives at Credit Suisse, though this won't be confirmed until next week.
Poor him.
Well, "poor" probably isn't the word for this Wall Street veteran – the 52-year-old American, who grew up in Illinois, has worked for a string of investment banks – but he's unlikely to be pleased.
Does he have a supportive family to comfort him?
He's happily married, thanks, though don't mention his first wife. They're in the middle of a protracted legal dispute dating from their divorce six years ago.
What happened?
When the couple split, Mr Dougan agreed to pay his ex-wife, Tomoko, $15.3m in two instalments. He was 12 days late with the second payment, of $7.5m, in 2006.
And she wasn't too impressed?
Right. Mr Dougan added $25,000 to the pot as interest for the 12 days, but his former wife demanded additional payments backdated to the original divorce settlement a year previously. Five years later, they're still arguing about the $750,000 at stake – the latest court hearing took place last week.
But he can pay, surely?
Maybe it's the principle – these banker types just hate to lose.
Does he usually win?
Pretty much – and when he doesn't, he hedges his losses. Mr Dougan, a keen runner, was once bet that he couldn't run a mile in five minutes. He trained for the challenge, but still missed out by four seconds. Happily, he had set up the bid like a derivative, with the payout getting smaller the closer he came.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies