Ethos, the Swiss partner of the European Corporate Governance Service, an association of independent national services in this field - the UK partner is PIRC - has filed shareholder resolutions for the annual general meetings of the largest five Swiss listed companies, including Credit Suisse and UBS, demanding a vote on their remuneration reports.

Ethos, along with eight Swiss pension funds, has filed a shareholder resolution for the 2009 AGMs of ABB, Credit Suisse, Nestle, Novartis and UBS. The resolution requests that shareholders have a UK-style advisory vote on remuneration reports.

Dominique Biedermann, director of Ethos, said: “By submitting a 'say on pay' resolution, Ethos intends to contribute in a positive way to issues related to the excess of executive remuneration at Swiss companies."

Among the main stock markets, Switzerland is the only country in which the legislation does not provide shareholders with any right to express their opinion on executive remuneration