Update

Back on Dec 19, 2008, I noted that Credit Suisse was distributing "toxic assets" as part of an employee bonus pool. As you can see from the post, I argued it was a terrific idea. I said at the time, "This is a very creative idea, and in the end could work out well for everyone."

See today's news:

"ZURICH—Shares in a $5 billion pool of formerly illiquid assets distributed as bonus pay for Credit Suisse Group investment bankers returned 72% last year, people familiar with the situation said.

Roughly 2,000 investment bankers at the Zurich-based bank, who were told of the pool's performance Tuesday evening, can't withdraw their portion of the fund until 2014, but will receive some semiannual interest payments.

The pool is largely made up of commercial mortgage-backed securities and leveraged loan products that Credit Suisse sought to offload late in 2008 as part of a major scaling back of its risk-taking.

The plan to use the then "toxic assets" as bonus pay, made public last January, sparked an outcry with some Credit Suisse bankers, who argued that they hadn't contributed to the bank's 2008 net loss.

The fund's favorable performance in 2009, which compares with a 23.5% rise in the Standard & Poor's index on the year and an 18.8% gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, reflects the easing of markets for some of the securities last year. At the time the fund was set up late in 2008, markets for them was near-frozen, but have since become far more liquid."