Corporate governance questioned over bankers' remuneration

Dennis Buckley, chairman of Saul Trustees, said while he was broadly supportive of the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) Stewardship Code, he remained frustrated at board’s abilities to ignore shareholders’ votes. 

“There is something wrong when shareholders can vote down a remuneration package, and the board can just ignore it,” said Buckley.

In response, the FRC’s chairman Baroness Sarah Hogg reminded the audience of shareholders ability to vote off board members every year.

“Voting down a report doesn’t have any legal sanction, but if you vote off the remuneration chair, that does have an effect.”

With reference to UK banks, NAPF chair Lindsay Tomlinson added that since most of the banks were now owned by the government, perhaps it was up to ministers to make their voices heard.