Aviva CEO & CFO Reduce Long-Term Bonuses After Voting Agency Concern
Aviva plc’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Wilson and the chief financial officer lowered their long-term bonuses after Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. was said to have raised concerns over 2015 compensation.
Wilson’s long-term incentive plan (LTIP ) reverted back to 2014 levels of 300 percent of his salary from a proposed 350 percent, Aviva said in a statement on Friday. That means the CEO could earn as much as 2.94 million pounds ($4.3 million) in stock, down from an original 3.4 million pounds.
CFO Tom Stoddard’s long-term award was cut to 225 percent of his salary from a potential 250 percent. Neither executive is able to sell the shares for five years, according to the London-based company’s policy.
“The board was disappointed to receive feedback this week from a shareholder voting agency which expressed concern over the proposed LTIP awards,” Aviva’s chairman of the remuneration committee Patricia Cross said in the statement. This is “despite the tangible progress made by the management team and the award being within the company’s remuneration policy,” she said.
ISS, an adviser on corporate governance, made the complaint to Aviva’s board this week, said a person with knowledge of the situation, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. An official for ISS declined to comment.
Aviva, which has just bought Friends Life Group Ltd. for about 5.6 billion pounds, raised Wilson’s bonus about 15 percent to 1.3 million pounds in 2014, according to the annual report. His long-term incentives were sweetened to ensure his retention as Aviva beds down the largest takeover in the U.K. insurance industry in 15 years.
The CEO’s salary remained unchanged at 980,000 pounds.