Standard Chartered slashes CEO and CFO pay in wake of revolt
Standard Chartered said today that it has slashed the pension payouts to its two top bosses, bowing to shareholder demands in the wake of a major investor rebellion.
Chief executive Bill Winters and chief financial officer Andy Halford will see their retirement allowance dropped from 20 per cent of their annual salary to 10 per cent.
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“The majority of shareholders we engaged with support the existing overall quantum of total remuneration offered to the existing executive directors in absolute terms and relative to peers,” Standard Chartered said in a statement.
The banking giant added: “Notwithstanding this, they wish to see the concerns of other shareholders in relation to pension allowances resolved, whilst keeping the executive directors engaged and focused.”
In May more than 35 per cent of shareholders voted against a remuneration package for Winters that gave him a pension allowance of £474,000, which was 40 per cent of his cash salary.
Winters will now take a pension allowance of £237,000.
Proxy Insight said the vote was the largest revolt against a bank in five years.
Winters sparked a backlash among shareholders after saying that investors who had focussed on his pension allowance “immature and unhelpful”.
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The row over the pension contribution, which marks the largest for the chief executive of any of the big UK bank, underlines current corporate tensions over the pay issue.
The Investment Association has ratcheted up the pressure on several heavyweight financial firms in recent months on the topic of pension schemes.