Santander chief UK’s best paid bank boss

Nathan Bostock, the former finance director at Royal Bank of Scotland Group, who moved to Santander UK six years ago to become its chief executive, has found the move to have paid off after he emerged from a difficult 2018 at the Spanish-owned lender as the best paid bank boss in Britain.

Santander chief UK's best paid bank boss

Nathan Bostock

Mr Bostock, who left Edinburgh-based RBS in 2013, took home a base salary of £1.7m last year, plus £588,000 towards his pension and £50,000 benefits such as a car allowance.

However, he also picked up a £2.3m bonus, and £1.8m to compensate him for giving up bonuses from RBS upon his departure from the FD job at RBS he held for just 10 weeks.



Details of Mr Bostock’s total annual pay of £6.4m emerge a month after Santander announced plans to shut 40 bank branches across the UK, putting more than 1,270 jobs at risk.

His salary and bonus were also awarded despite Santander reporting a 14 per cent drop in underlying UK profits to £1.7bn for 2018.

Spanish-owned Santander was also fined £32.8m by the Financial Conduct Authority in December, for “serious failings” while processing dead customers’ accounts.

Mr Bostock’s total pay for last year is far more than the £4.6m paid to boss John Flint by HSBC, which employs 235,000 staff in 66 countries and made annual profits of £15.3bn.

By contrast Santander UK has 23,650 staff, operates solely in Britain and made a £1.6bn profit.

Bostock, 58, who is married with two sons, and owns a farm in Kent, joined Santander in 2013 after four years at RBS.

The second-best paid British bank boss was Antonio Horta-Osorio at Lloyds who earned £6.3m.

Standard Chartered’s Bill Winters made £6m, followed by Flint at HSBC.

RBS chief Ross McEwan picked up £3.6m, and Jes Staley at Barclays £3.4m.

In Santander’s annual report, remuneration committee chairwoman Annemarie Durbin, said: “Our management team has delivered solid business performance this year, delivering for our shareholders, people, customers and communities.

“The continued progress made towards our strategic and operational goals (including the establishment of the ring-fence bank) was achieved despite the competitive and uncertain environment.”

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