The top five directors of Nationwide Building Society enjoyed tasty pay rises this year, ensuring all of them took home more than a million pounds.
Chief executive Graham Beale got the largest slice of the pie, with a £300,000 increase on the previous year to £2.25 million.
This rise partly reflects a change in Beale’s pension deal, the society points out. Excluding the pension his pay is up by 4%.
The pay deals are likely to incur the irritation of at least some members of a mutual organisation that styles itself as an antidote to the banks.
Beale, chief executive since April 2007, got performance pay of £976,000 in a year when profits fell from £317 million to £203 million. He has seen his pay rocket by £600,000 in the past two years.
Finance director Mark Rennison’s basic pay of £560,000 was boosted by performance pay of £504,000. A “pension allowance” of £161,000 took his total pay to £1.34 million.
Nationwide says it has to pay competitive salaries to attract and retain the best people.
Asked a few months ago if he was comfortable with his pay, Beale replied: “I’m not going to answer that question. But I will say that we need the right people at Nationwide.”
Chairman Geoffrey Howe got a £50,000 pay rise, taking his salary for a part-time role to £300,000.
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