(Bloomberg) — NatWest Group Plc investors backed a £7.8 million ($10.4 million) maximum pay package for Chief Executive Officer Paul Thwaite, as the lender prepares for the UK government to exit its bailout-era shareholding.
Thwaite said at the bank’s annual meeting on Wednesday that the speed of the government’s share sale “is testament to the performance of the business and has helped us to attract new global investors who share our growth ambitions.”
The CEO, who was paid £4.9 million last year, will now be eligible for bigger performance-based share awards and a bonus worth as much as 150% of his salary.
Thwaite took over from Alison Rose in 2023 after she stepped down following a row over the bank’s decision to close the account of politician Nigel Farage.
Shareholders met at the lender’s Gogarburn headquarters near Edinburgh, the venue for clashes over high pay in the years following the 2008 financial crisis. All resolutions were passed by shareholders on Wednesday, with 97.86% approval for the remuneration policy, according to preliminary figures announced at the meeting.
NatWest said in a statement ahead of the AGM that the decision by UK regulators to remove the bonus cap in late 2023 “provides greater flexibility to introduce higher leverage, in exchange for more stretching performance-based targets.”
The government now holds less than 3% of NatWest, having sold most of the stake it acquired in a £45.5 billion bailout in 2008. Since then, the group has changed its name from Royal Bank of Scotland, ditched most of its overseas operations and refocused on domestic retail and commercial banking.
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