Mike Wells, chief executive of Prudential, last week announced that he was taking a £23,000 pay cut to £1.17 million. It coincided with a filing from the Pru revealing that on the same day he had been awarded shares of £883,000, part of a £2.2 million bonus previously disclosed.
Many chief executives have volunteered to take temporary pay cuts of 20 per cent to 50 per cent and to waive 2020 bonuses.
The Pension and Lifetime Savings Association said that pension funds “must not be afraid to vote against directors” and referred to some companies that were “laying off or furloughing staff to manage their outgoings during the crisis while high-paid directors and chief executives maintain full pay and bonuses”.
Schroders said yesterday: “Employee bonuses for 2019 were paid earlier in the year, before the Covid-19 situation. Since we sent our annual report to print, the situation with Covid-19 has deteriorated significantly. We are very aware of the challenges being faced by society and will of course consider 2020 performance and pay in due course later in the year carefully.”
