Aviva hires insider on a bumper £6m deal

aViVa has appointed insider Maurice Tulloch as chief executive on a £6m pay deal, after its former boss was ousted in a boardroom coup.

Tulloch, 49, has worked for the insurer since 1992 and has been running its international arm for the past two years.

He replaces Mark Wilson, who was forced out by the board in october following a string of mishaps.

Tulloch will get a £975,000 base salary and up to £4.9m a year in bonuses.

He will be paid £137,000 a year towards his pension, equal to 14pc of his base salary in line with all the firm’s employees.

This is a cut from the 28pc paid towards Wilson’s pension, and comes after pressure from investors for firms to cut back their lucrative retirement schemes for bosses. it means that in total, he will get up to £6m a year if he hits targets.

The married father-of-two will also get a one-off payment of up to £250,000 to cover expenses as he moves to London from Toronto, where he is based.

it is thought Tulloch will focus on cutting aviva’s £ 8.5bn debt pile. aviva shares rose 0.6pc, or 2.5p, to 434.5p.