Shareholder group ABI vote on executive pay

In its submission to Vince Cable’s consultation on remuneration, which closed last week, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has backed proposals to hand shareholders more power when it comes to deciding directors’ pay. However, the ABI said it is not the job of shareholders to “micromanage” individual rewards and called for the binding vote to be based on long-term packages, not just yearly increases. For pay votes taking place in 2013, a long-term vote would mean approving staged salary increases for directors until about 2016, rather than agreeing rises each year in isolation, the ABI said. This would give companies the “flexibility” needed to hire talented directors who could then work towards long-term goals rather than be governed by “short-termist” views, the ABI said. It has been a turbulent few weeks for executive pay, with insurance giant Aviva the latest company to bow to shareholder demands and make last-minute concessions on directors’ pay.