ZURICH: UBS executives took home less pay in 2021, Switzerland's biggest bank said on Monday, as bonuses were cut over the bank's $774 million loss from the collapse of US family office Archegos.

The drop came despite the bank posting its best annual profit since 2006.

In his first full year as CEO, Chief Executive Ralph Hamers received 11.5 million Swiss francs, the bank said in its annual compensation report, less than the 13.2 million Swiss francs his predecessor Sergio Ermotti collected for his ten months in the role in 2020.

"In addition to the overall 2021 performance of the Group and Mr. Hamers' achievements, the (board of directors) also considered other factors, such as a loss from a US-based client of our prime brokerage business," UBS said in the report, referring to the Archegos-related loss.

Hamers joined UBS in September 2020, and took over as CEO in November that year.UBS reported its best annual profit since the global financial crisis for 2021, allowing it to step up share buybacks and set more ambitious profit goals.

That was despite a $774 million charge Switzerland's biggest bank reported in the first quarter of 2021 from the collapse of US investment fund Archegos, which cost global banks more than $10 billion when the stricken family office defaulted on margin calls.

The group's overall executive board collected compensation of 107.8 million Swiss francs ($117.17 million) in 2020, down from 115.9 million Swiss francs in 2020. Performance-related bonuses fell to reflect the impact of Archegos, the bank said.

Across the bank, the total performance-based bonus pool rose 10% to $3.7 billion from $3.3 billion in 2020.