THE groundswell of protest against executive pay claimed another success yesterday when insurance giant Aviva said its chief executive would waive this year's pay rise, and it would review its "golden hello" payments.
Andrew Moss, whose salary is almost £1m, has forgone a £46,000 rise, Aviva said, as it sought to soften investor discontent on the eve of this week's annual general meeting.
The concession also follows shareholder pay protests at the meetings of Alliance Trust and notably Barclays last Friday.
But Aviva may still face a backlash over its £2.5m welcome package for Trevor Matthews, the former Standard Life executive who took over Aviva's UK business last December.
As The Herald reported, Mr Matthews had already picked up £530,000 for his six months of "gardening leave" at Friends Life, to add to over £500,000 he collected on similar leave at Standard Life in 2008.
Aviva's annual report revealed in March that Mr Matthews picked up a £470,000 cash payment on arrival plus shares worth £2m which will vest over three years.
Aviva said it would review its practices. Scott Wheway, chairman of the remuneration committee, said: "A number of shareholders have indicated they would like to see a different approach to the way we compensate senior directors on recruitment, and an even closer correlation between our pay packages and shareholder returns."
Barrie Cornes, sector analyst at Pannmure Gordon, commented: "Aviva will rightly come under fire for failing to address the winds of change impacting director remuneration over the past 12 months."
He said Aviva shareholders felt that in measuring performance the company had put too much emphasis on operating profit, which rose 6% last year, and too little on pre-tax profit, which was down 96% in the market turmoil.
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