Credit Suisse bonus pool of toxic assets gains 17 percent since January

In an attempt to avoid public outrage over bonuses, Credit Suisse (CS) bankers received their 2008 bonuses from a pool of toxic bonds and corporate loans, rather than in cash and stock. Many feared that the toxic assets would be a total loss, but instead the fund gained 17 percent since January of this year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal this morning.

The pool was created for senior employees to help move some of these toxic assets off the bank's balance sheet. The bank's employees were told they could wait out the bear market until these loans recovered value or were written off. The debt in this pool includes a Japanese shopping center, a mining company and a U.S.supermarket chain. Employees whose bonuses were paid with the fund can't cash out the shares for at least five years.