Shareholder rebellion brewing as RBS chief’s £350k a-year pension comes under fire

Ross McEwan

Ahead of still 62.4 per cent taxpayer-owned RBS’s annual general meeting next month, The Guardian newspaper has reported that the Investment Association and Sharesoc, an individual shareholder, have brought attention to the lender’s pay policy as it is out of line with the rest of the workforce.

McEwan’s £350,000 annual entitlement is 35 per cent of his base salary, three times higher than the 10 per cent offered to staff.

The entitlement is also out of line with other recently hired executives, including finance chief Katie Murray, who is also on a 10 per cent pension arrangement.

The IA report is one of the first to come out of the IA’s new Institutional Voter Information Service with an “amber top” warning, The Guardian says, noting that the 35 per cent exceeds both its own guidelines of keeping payments below 25 per cent, as well as potential gender discrepancies given the difference between Murray and McEwan’s remuneration.

On the back of the issues identified, ShareSoc has issued its own guidelines to shareholders, recommending they vote against the bank’s latest remuneration report at the AGM on 26 April. “RBS should listen to what is being said and act,” ShareSoc said.

Sharesoc director Cliff Weight said: “Paying the chief executive a pension of 35 per cent of salary and the female finance director only 10 per cent is a nonsense.”

Mr Weight also called for RBS to appoint a shareholder committee which would give investors a formal say over the direction of the bank.

RBS is going to be consulting with shareholders over a new three year remuneration policy stretching to 2023, but told The Guardian it did not plan to change its chief executive’s pension payments in the mean time.

RBS’s upcoming AGM will be held on Thursday 25th April at Gogarburn, Edinburgh.