Chiefs who pocketed £6.3m while their savers suffered
Revealed: fat-cat pay deals at UK’s biggest building societies
THE bosses of Britain’s biggest five building societies raked in more than £6m last year while loyal members languished on paltry savings rates.
The mutuals boast of being a friendlier alternative to big banks, with their sole purpose to look after members’ needs.
But they have been accused of lavishing fat-cat pay deals on their chief executives, with the best-paid five pocketing a total of £6.3m in 2016.
Last week 47-year-old Joe Garner of Nationwide was revealed to have taken home £3.4m in the past year.
But Mail analysis reveals how others are also making a fortune.
Mark Parsons of Coventry Building Society took home £970,000, 50pc more than in 2015. Meanwhile, savers in its easy-access Isa earn a measly 0.9pc interest each year. The 55-year-old father-of-three lives in a farmhouse near Coventry believed to be worth around £1m.
A spokesman for the mutual said Parson’s remuneration is ‘not only comparable with similar or smaller mutual organisations, it is significantly lower than smaller shareholder-owned financial services organisations’.
David Cutter, the boss of Skipton Building Society, earned £831,000 last year, up 19pc on 2015, while Skipton’s 860,400 customers are stuck with interest rates of 0.65pc.
He was educated at the elite Rugby School and played hockey for Wales 51 times. He once said he became an accountant because it gave him more time to play golf.
The 55-year-old father-of-three became chief executive of Skipton in 2009 and has been fiercely criticised for abandoning a pledge over interest rates on mortgages. He and his family live in a £700,000 house in rural Yorkshire. A spokesman said: ‘The pay of all executive directors is benchmarked against the marketplace.’
It needs to be ‘sufficient to attract and retain people with the skill and capability needed to run a complex and diversified business’, the spokesman added.
Mike Regnier, an Oxford graduate who runs Yorkshire Building Society, earns £625,000 – after winning a 29pc pay rise.
The 45-year- old became Yorkshire’s boss in January and lives in a £955,000 house in Harrogate with his wife. The society pays just 0.5pc in its easy-access Isa, or 0.65pc if savers accept limited withdrawals. A spokesman said: ‘We must be competitive in the financial services market.’
Principality Building Society chief executive Graeme Yorston – who stepped down in March – pocketed £535,000 last year, a £49,000 rise on 2015. The Welsh lender pays just 0.7pc interest on its easy-access Isa and made £50.3m of profit. Yorston, 60, is a golfer, former waterskiing instructor and one-time go-kart racing champion, and lives in a £1.1m barn conversion in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Chairman Laurie Adams said: ‘The building society’s remuneration committee sets the overall level of pay so it is competitive to attract, retain and motivate executives but is not excessive so as to keep members’ interests safe.’