Boss of tiny bank paid more than chief of global lender

THE boss of one of Britain’s smallest banks was paid £3.5m for his first year in the job.

Steve Pateman joined Shawbrook at the start of 2016 from Santander, where he was head of UK banking.

But despite moving to one of the smallest players in the sector, he was paid more than many FTSE 100 chief executives, including Bill Winters, boss of Standard Chartered, who took home £3.4m last year.

His handsome packet was revealed as Shawbrook turned its back on an £825m takeover bid and posted a jump in profits. The lender yesterday rejected a joint approach from BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital – the firm which founded it six years ago.

Pateman, 53, picked up a £ 625,000 salary along with £219,000 in pension payments and a £482,000 annual bonus.

He was also handed £2.2m to compensate him for loss of bonuses and a lower fixed salary when he quit Santander.

Shawbrook announced on Friday that Pollen and BC had sought to buy it for 330p per share, sending the stock rocketing 18pc. Pollen, which was spun out of Royal Bank of Scotland’s investment division following the financial crisis, still owns 40pc of Shawbrook.

Shawbrook’s bosses cited the board’s confidence in its strategy and feedback from major institutional shareholders as their reasons for saying no.

Shares fell 1.57pc, or 5p, to 314.3p, despite a 26pc profit rise to £88.2m. The bank had £4.1bn of loans on its books at the end of 2016, a 22pc rise on 12 months earlier. This rapid growth could trigger concerns about the quality of the portfolio, particularly as Shawbrook took a £9m hit in June for accidentally giving out low-quality loans.