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Aviva loses shareholder vote on executive pay

by Jun Merrett on May 03, 2012 at 17:44

Life company Aviva has lost the shareholder vote on executive pay at its annual general meeting (AGM).

Around 54% of shareholders who voted at the AGM voted against Aviva’s remuneration report which has attracted anger from investors since it was first published in March.

In April the Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (Pirc) joined the Association of British Insurers (ABI) in recommending that investors should reject the group’s remuneration report at its annual meeting on 3 May because of the generous packages handed to directors.

Following shareholder concern Aviva announced that it would review its process of setting executive pay levels.

Much of investors’ umbrage was focussed on the pay package granted to former Standard Life UK boss Trevor Matthews (pictured) who became UK chief executive at Aviva last year and received a £2.5 million 'golden hello', £2 million in shares and £470,000 in cash.

Matthews received £58,154 for his first month’s work at Aviva, alongside a £45,000 bonus.

Investor anger over executive pay resulted in Andrew Moss, chief executive of Aviva Group deciding not to accept the salary increase he was granted in 2012.

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2 comments so far. Why not have your say?

I have several complaints in with Aviva, which they acknowledge are justified but are seeking to pay me a mininum amount of compensation which nowhere comes near to properly compensating me for my time and efforts. It seems to me that Aviva are relaying on IFAs to perform as low paid quality controllers because of their poor systems and even poorer managment controls. The Directors should be installing proper customer focused systems which would then lead to customer loyalty and retention rather than just trying to get away with the cheapest possible.

I know Shareholders are approaching this from a different perspective but nevertheless good to see Shareholders are holding Directors to account. No problem with bonuses being paid provided they are proportionate and for proper measureable performance, rather than for vague promises of future performance. What did Trevor Matthews do to warrent a bonus in his first month? especially aafter such a huge signing on payment. I hope that this, together with the Barclays AGM, is the start of a shareholder revolution.

Hopefully, I will soon be able to change my nom de plume and I am looking forward to it.

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Vinylman

May 04, 2012 at 15:14

Aviva have been a waste of space for ages and I stopped using them for new business. Servicing of existing business is a joke.

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