Daily Mail

£6m payday for building society fat cats

- By James Burton

THe bosses of some of Britain’s biggest building societies have trousered bumper pay rises – despite closing branches and cutting jobs.

The five best-paid chief executives were handed £6m in total by the mutuals, according to analysis by the mail, with some given increases worth tens of thousands of pounds.

altogether, the bosses of the nation’s 44 building societies got £15.2m between them in their most recent financial years.

It comes despite a wave of cutbacks and risks underminin­g societies’ claims that they are different to the big banks.

Justin modray of consumer group Candid money said: ‘Building societies are meant to be owned by and run for the benefit of their members. Boardroom pay has gone through the roof in the past few years, but it’s very disappoint­ing to see the chief executives of building societies jumping on the bandwagon.’

Top of the pay pile was Nationwide boss Joe Garner, 48, who was paid £2.3m in the year to april 4 – including a £217,000 benefits package as revealed by the mail last month.

The other mutual boss to pocket seven figures was David Cutter at Skipton, despite his society being only the fourth biggest, who picked up £1m – £90,000 more than the previous year.

Cutter, 56, was fiercely criticised in 2010 when Skipton abandoned a pledge over interest rates for mortgage holders, then sent 3,000 customers’ confidenti­al details to the wrong addresses. The mutual, which has around 840,000 members, last year announced it would axe eight branches and three agencies to save money.

a spokesman said: ‘The remunerati­on of executive directors reflects the strong performanc­e of the Skipton Group during 2017 – record group profits, strong growth in membership, mortgage and savings balances.’

mark Parsons, head of Coventry Building Society, is the third bestpaid society chief with £933,000. like many mutuals’ bosses, 56year- old Parsons is a former banker who left the City for a quieter life. He rose through the ranks at abbey National, now Santander, then later became deputy chief executive of Barclays’ retail arm.

The married father of three joined Coventry in 2014 and now lives in a farmhouse in the countrysid­e near its offices believed to be worth around £1m.

a spokesman said last night: ‘mark Parsons is paid appropriat­ely in comparison to our mutual peers and appreciabl­y less than our smaller PlC competitor­s, for leading a low cost and competitiv­e organisati­on which consistent­ly delivers above-average savings rates.’

Yorkshire Building Society boss mike regnier enjoyed the biggest pay rise, with his total hiked by almost a third to £930,000 following his promotion from chief commercial officer at the start of 2017.

His bumper boost came after Yorkshire – which has 2m members – took over rival Norwich & Peterborou­gh and slashed costs by closing about 60 branches plus an office in Cheltenham.

a 45-year-old Oxford graduate, regnier joined HBOS in 2006 and stayed on after it was saved by lloyds during the financial crisis.

He rose to become lloyds’ head of personal current accounts and credit cards – earning criticism for sky-high overdraft fees. He moved to Yorkshire in 2014 and now lives in a £955,000 house in Harrogate with his wife. a spokesman said: ‘The increase was in accordance with taking on a new role and considerab­le extra responsibi­lities.’

leeds Building Society boss Peter Hill, 56, was paid £765,000, up £37,000 on a year earlier. The mutual shut eight branches last year and is one of the few to have cut interest rates on its easy access savings account in the past year, from 1.05pc to 0.8pc.

a spokesman said: ‘Chief executive remunerati­on... is set by the remunerati­on committee to attract and retain the right calibre of individual and is voted on annually by members.’

 ??  ?? £765k LEEDS
£765k LEEDS
 ??  ?? £930k YORKSHIRE
£930k YORKSHIRE
 ??  ?? £933k COVENTRY
£933k COVENTRY
 ??  ?? £2.3m NATIONWIDE
£2.3m NATIONWIDE

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