Northern Rock under fire over exec pay rises
Commercial and treasury directors received 14% increases
Substantial pay rises to executive directors at beleaguered mortgage lender
Northern Rock just days after the
FSA warned of the threat it faced due to
the growing US sub-prime lending crisis has angered corporate governance body,
Pensions and Investment Research Consultants
(PIRC).
Andy Kuipers and Keith Currie, the lender’s commercial and treasury
directors, got 14% cent increases, taking their pay to £415,000, along with
deputy chief executive David Baker who saw his pay climb 16% to £530,000, and
CEO Adam Applegarth, who received a 10% rise to £760,000.
Furthermore, the pay increases came just three months before the mortgage
lender issued a profits warning, citing the sub-prime crisis.
‘The impact [of the sub-prime crisis] on their business must surely have been
known when the remuneration consultants proposed such a weak earnings measure,’
PIRC spokesman Tom Powdrill said.
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