Category Archives: Executive pay and bonuses

Bumper City bonuses expected from takeover frenzy after pound hits record low

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UK firms now temptingly cheaper, with a ‘wave of bids’ from overseas buyers meaning payouts for bankers

Bankers could rake in bumper bonuses from a “wave of bids” by overseas buyers for UK businesses made temptingly cheaper as a result of the plunge in the pound against the dollar. A fresh frenzy of merger and acquisition activity would mean a ramp-up in payouts for City dealmakers.

Sterling fell by nearly 5% at one point on Monday to $1.0327, its lowest since Britain went decimal in 1971. The currency has fallen by more than a fifth against the dollar this year.

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City sceptical about benefits of scrapping cap on banker bonuses

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Sources at largest banks say the did not lobby for move nor expect it to result in major changes to pay packets

When City of London executives were summoned to No 11 Downing Street earlier this month, they were promised reforms that would boost growth, attract talented bankers and usher a new era of prosperity for financial services.

But what the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, failed to mention to bank bosses was that their pay would become a lightning rod for controversy in the mini-budget that followed.

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Kwarteng plan to lift cap on bankers’ bonuses infuriates unions

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Unite leader deplores prospect of post-Brexit deregulation drive ‘when millions are struggling’

Unions have reacted with fury to the prospect of the government scrapping a cap on bankers’ bonuses, as ministers geared up for a return to near-normal politics next week, topped by an emergency mini-budget on Friday.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, who will set out plans for tax cuts and give more details about the government’s plans to limit rising energy bills, is also considering whether to shed the legacy of an EU-wide cap on bonuses of twice an employee’s salary, imposed after the 2008 financial crash.

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Kwasi Kwarteng planning to scrap caps on bankers’ bonuses

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Critics question chancellor’s idea of abolishing rules imposed after 2008 financial crash during cost of living crisis

The UK chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, is reportedly planning to scrap caps on bankers’ bonuses in a controversially timed move to attract more talent to the City of London.

A source close to Kwarteng confirmed the chancellor was considering lifting the cap but emphasised that no decision had been taken.

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Liz Truss faces backlash over plan to lift cap on bankers’ bonuses – UK politics live

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Latest updates: Kwasi Kwarteng’s plan to lift cap criticised as ‘very bad timing’ during cost of living crisis

In its response to the legal proceedings launched by the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol (see 11.54am), the UK government has said that it has unilaterally decided to continue suspending border checks on farm produce and other goods entering NI from Great Britain, my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports.

The European Union is considering its next steps after receiving the UK’s response to legal threats over the failure to comply with the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol, PA Media reports. PA says:

Despite politics as normal being paused while the nation mourns the Queen’s death, the government responded to the action ahead of today’s deadline.

The bloc had requested a response to its raft of infringement proceedings over the UK’s failure to comply with the rules before the end of the day.

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Bonuses for water bosses in England up 20% last year despite sewage failures

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Water company executives received on average £100,000 in bonuses, despite most firms missing targets

The annual bonuses paid to water company executives rose by 20% in 2021, despite most of the firms failing to meet sewage pollution targets.

Figures show on average executives received £100,000 in one-off payments on top of their salaries, during a period in which foul water was being pumped for 2.7m hours into England’s rivers and swimming spots.

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As drought hits, what are UK water company chief executives paid?

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Anger is growing over the huge sums handed to shareholders and executives

Britain’s biggest water companies have come under the spotlight as the nation swelters during what could become the worst drought in 500 years, with hosepipe bans introduced across much of England in an attempt to fend off shortages.

Anger is growing over the huge sums handed to their shareholders and executives, given the companies’ record on tackling leaks and pollution and their failure to build more reservoirs. Politicians and campaigners are now calling for water company bosses to have their bonuses banned until they tackle these issues.

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Pay gap in UK between bosses and workers likely to widen in 2022

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After narrowing during pandemic, analysis suggests FTSE 350 CEOs will collect 63 times average median pay at their companies

The gap between the pay of bosses and employees will widen again this year after narrowing during the pandemic, research suggests.

FTSE 350 chief executives are expected to collect 63 times the average median pay of workers at their companies , according to the High Pay Centre thinktank, which campaigns for fairer pay structures.

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Most Britons back curbs on bosses’ pay, survey finds

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Sixty-three per cent of people said CEOs should be paid no more than 10 times earnings of lower- or mid-ranking employees

Six in 10 people think company bosses should be prevented from earning more than 10 times the average paid to employees, according to polling shared exclusively with the Guardian.

A poll for the High Pay Centre, a thinktank that campaigns for fairer pay for workers, found that 63% of Britons said chief executives should be paid no more than 10 times the earnings of lower- or mid-ranking employees.

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Vote down executive pay at Barclays and Standard Chartered, investors told

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Rebellions loom as Glass Lewis advises banks’ shareholders to reject higher base pay and excessive pensions

Barclays and Standard Chartered face the prospect of rebellions over executive pay after an influential adviser said investors should vote down pay and pensions packages for executives at the FTSE 100 banks.

Investors should defy directors and reject higher base pay for Barclays’ new chief executive and potentially “excessive” pension awards at Standard Chartered, according to Glass Lewis, which advises investors such as pension funds on how to vote at annual meetings.

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Deliveroo CEO pay rises by 16% to £600,000 – plus £5m in shares

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Remuneration of takeaway delivery firm boss comes at time its couriers are facing higher costs

Deliveroo chief executive Will Shu was handed a near 16% basic pay rise this year after taking home a £519,200 salary and £5.2m share payout last year.

The takeaway courier boss will receive basic pay of £600,000 this year and is set to receive another near £5m of shares in April next year, part of a £30m package over the next six years according to the group’s annual report published on Wednesday.

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Pandemic on Wall Street causes rising levels … of bonuses

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Enforced takeovers during the crisis will mean a bumper year for the bankers who advise on billion-dollar deals

Just as most of us are feeling the effects of soaring inflation, which the Office for National Statistics said last week had reached a 10-year high of 5.1%, wealthy bankers and traders are looking forward to receiving extraordinarily large new year bonuses.

Banks on both sides of the Atlantic are finalising bonus pool deals that could be inflated by as much as 50% compared with last year, reaching their highest levels since 2009 and the mergers and acquisitions boom that followed the financial crisis.

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Nearly 40% of AstraZeneca investors reject boss’s bonus rise

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Covid vaccine maker passes its remuneration policy but suffers sizeable rebellion

AstraZeneca has suffered a substantial shareholder rebellion over proposals to hand its chief executive, Pascal Soriot, bigger bonus awards for the second consecutive year.

Nearly 40% voted against the policy, which could hand him pay and perks of nearly £18m for 2021.

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The very private life of Sir Chris Hohn – the man paid £1m a day

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The hedge fund manager earns Britain’s biggest salary. He also avoids meat, likes yoga and supports Extinction Rebellion

Hedge fund manager Sir Chris Hohn once made a point of telling a high court judge that he was an “unbelievable moneymaker”. This week Hohn proved his point – definitively – when it was revealed that he paid himself just shy of £1m-a-day last year.

Hohn collected $479m (£343m) in annual dividend payments from his The Children’s Investment (TCI) fund in the biggest ever personal payday in the UK after doubling profits at his Mayfair hedge fund, run from an office a couple of doors down from Louis Vuitton’s flagship store.

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Top UK bosses are paid 115 times more than average worker, analysis finds

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Vast gap in earnings described as ‘unfair’ and ‘repugnant’ by trade union leaders

Bosses of top British companies will have made more money by teatime on Wednesday than the average UK worker will earn in the entire year, according to an independent analysis of the vast gap in pay between chief executives and everyone else.

The chief executives of FTSE 100 companies are paid a median average of £3.6m a year, which works out at 115 times the £31,461 collected by full-time UK workers on average, according to research by the High Pay Centre thinktank.

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Tesla shareholders urged to oust Elon Musk over $55bn pay deal

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Adviser Pirc says Musk’s pay and Twitter outbursts pose ‘serious risk of reputation harm to the company’

Tesla investors are being urged to vote to remove Elon Musk, the electric vehicle company’s founder and chief executive, from the board of the firm as anger mounts over his bonus deal that could pay him a record $55.8bn (£40bn).

Pirc, an influential adviser to shareholders, including the UK’s local authority pension funds, on Tuesday recommended that investors voted against Tesla’s executive pay deal because it “unfairly enriches the chief executive”.

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Disney and Soros among super-rich urging US government: tax us more

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  • Billionaires call for tax on extreme wealth to combat inequality
  • ‘America has a moral responsibility to tax our wealth more’

More than a dozen prominent US billionaires are calling for a new government tax on extreme wealth to help combat income inequality, provide funding for climate change initiatives and range of public health issues.

Related: Bernie Sanders confronts Walmart bosses and urges $15 an hour minimum wage

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Ending the Iranian sanctions waiver could be own goal for Trump

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Preventing Iran’s oil from reaching the market will raise oil prices and US business costs

The past two and a bit years have shown that it is naive to expect Donald Trump’s strategic and economic policies to demonstrate coherence. Even so, the lack of joined-up thinking in the decision to end the waiver against sanctions from nations that buy oil from Iran takes some beating.

Related: US toughens stance on Iran, ending exemptions from oil sanctions

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