Bank remuneration policy

The jobs performed by our staff are classified into job grades associated with a structure of salary ranges. Salaries of individual staff members move within the ranges of the salary structure on the basis of performance.

We undertake regular surveys to benchmark BIS salaries against compensation in comparable institutions and market segments. In years between such surveys, the salary structure is adjusted on the basis of the rate of inflation and the weighted average real wage development in advanced economies.

The salaries of senior officials are also regularly benchmarked against compensation in comparable institutions and market segments. The annual remuneration of senior officials is based on the salary structure for the General Manager, Deputy General Manager and Heads of Department as published each year in the Annual Report.

Through the Bank, BIS staff members have access to a contributory health insurance plan and a contributory defined benefit pension plan. Subject to certain conditions, staff members who are not nationals of the host countries where the BIS offices are located, including senior officials, are entitled to expatriation benefits as well as an education allowance for the international schooling of their children. 

Taxation

The majority of BIS staff employed at the Bank's Basel headquarters and the Asian and Americas representative offices are, under agreements with the relevant host countries, exempt as a rule from income tax on Bank salaries and allowances that would otherwise be levied by those host countries. However, they remain in general subject to tax levied in the host countries on income from sources other than the Bank, as well as other taxes (eg wealth tax, as well as property taxes and other cantonal and federal taxes in Switzerland). The exemption from national taxation reflects a well established international practice.