Lloyds boss hit by mutiny over pay
LLOYDS Bank was hit by a investor rebellion yesterday as more than a third of voting shareholders railed against its boss’s pay.
The mutiny at the bank’s annual general meeting was just the latest embarrassment for Antonio Horta-Osorio, who had already seen his pay under the new remuneration policy reduced from a maximum of £9.8m to £7m.
But the attempts to pacify irate investors fell short as 36.2pc of voting shareholders rejected the lender’s remuneration policy.
Almost 65pc of the entire investor base abstained from voting, in further proof that Lloyds has failed to convince shareholders that it showing moderation. The bruising vote comes at a sensitive time for Lloyds, as lenders were ordered by the Bank of England in March to rein in their executive pay to ensure they had enough money to deal with the coronavirus crisis.
The Treasury is relying on High Street banks to lend as much as possible to struggling businesses, to help them survive the pandemic.
But Lloyds in particular has come under fire from customers who claimed it was near-impossible to get a lifeline loan from it under the Government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). Influential shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended shareholders reject Lloyds’ pay policy ahead of yesterday’s annual general meeting.
It said executives including Horta-Osorio and chief financial officer William Chalmers were more likely to get longterm share awards under the new pay plan, and that the cuts Lloyds was proposing to get around this were not sufficient.
The bank’s second-largest shareholder, US investment firm Harris Associates, said it had approved the pay policy.
A spokesman said: ‘We fully support the board and the management team, especially as the compensation plan has already cut a measurable part of the fixed compensation.’