£6.4m for Santander boss

SANTANDER UK’s boss was Britain’s bestpaid bank chief in 2018, netting £6.4m.

Nathan Bostock earned a base salary of £1.7m, £588,000 towards his pension and £50,000 benefits such as a car allowance.

He also picked up a £2.3m bonus, and £1.8m to compensate him for giving up bonuses from previous employer Royal Bank of Scotland when he jumped ship.

The total is far more than the £4.6m paid to boss John Flint by HSBC, which employs 235,000 staff in 66 countries and made annual profits of £15.3bn. By contrast Santander UK has 23,650 staff, operates solely in Britain and made a £1.6bn profit.

Bostock, 58, who is married with two sons, and owns a farm in Kent, joined Santander in 2013 after four years at RBS.

The second-best paid British bank boss was Antonio Horta-Osorio at Lloyds who earned £6.3m. Standard Chartered’s Bill Winters made £6m, followed by Flint at HSBC. RBS chief Ross McEwan picked up £3.6m, and Jes Staley at Barclays £3.4m.