The innovative plan by Credit Suisse, one of the biggest Canary Wharf employers, to offer bonuses in toxic debt is paying off.

Amid the controversy over bankers' pay at the height of the banking crisis towards the end of last year, Credit Suisse took the unprecedented step of declaring it would be paying its bankers with a mixture of the “toxic” bonds and corporate loans that they had themselves created.

Dubbed the “eat your own cooking” plan, it was applauded by outsiders at the time as being a rare example of bankers' performance truly being rewarded — or punished. Staff were less keen.

But they have just been told that as the credit crisis has unwound, the $5 billion (£2.9 billion) fund of “duff products” which were granted as a big portion of 2008 pay had actually increased by 17% since January.

While that was far less than the 75% leap in the share price enjoyed by Credit Suisse, along with most other major banks, during that period, it was still a major outperformance of world stock markets, and far better than the bankers themselves had expected.

Other big banks have been watching the Credit Suisse plan closely to see how it fares, and pay experts believe many will follow suit as they feel the continuing political heat over bankers' pay.

Much of the bounce back in the value of the toxic fund is down to Credit Suisse having aggressively marked down the value of the assets last year.