UK to have a say in execs' pay

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron said he would set out plans in the coming days to restrain pay at the top of British companies and in banks, saying rewards are “completely out of whack” with performance.

Cameron said on Friday he plans to use “the tools at our disposal” to force more corporate transparency over pay and to give shareholders more power to limit compensation. He said he wanted the trend over recent years of smaller bank bonuses to continue.

With his government’s austerity plans hitting public-sector workers and welfare recipients this year, the prime minister’s January 2 New Year’s message contained a pledge to deal with “excess” at the top of the income scale. He said both policies were about “responsibility.”

 

“People aren’t satisfied, I’m not satisfied,” Cameron told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” show. “We’ve seen a level of reward at the top which hasn’t been commensurate with success.”

The pledges on pay, which Cameron may flesh out in media interviews over the weekend, are an enactment of ideas floated by Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable in September.

Cable referred to a study by the High Pay Commission, a pressure group that pushes for curbs on top earners, which found British directors’ salaries increased by 64 percent over the past decade, while the average year-end share price of FTSE 100 companies declined by 71 per cent.

“I’m all for people being well-paid if they’re succeeding,” Cameron said on Friday.