Nationwide boss's £7m pay deal ‘not about greed', says chairman
Kevin Parry, the chairman of the building society, told Nationwide's annual meeting on Friday that the pay plan was 'fair' compared to the salaries at rivals – despite one Nationwide member labelling it 'an obscenity'.
The mutual has come in for fierce criticism in recent months amid concerns that the building society is adopting similar practices to the shareholder-owned banks. Nationwide is Britain's largest building society, with 16m members who each take a share of its profits as mutual owners of the building society.
Mr Parry told Nationwide's annual meeting, which was held online, that the directors including Dame Debbie were motivated by factors other than money.
'For the avoidance of doubt, I'm very confident in saying this is not about personal greed. This is about equity with people that do similar jobs elsewhere. I don't think that money is the primary motivation. And it's not the case that they have themselves asked for more money,' he said.
Alongside the pay deal, Dame Debbie's acquisition of Virgin Money last year and the lack of members on the board has led to a campaign from some quarters against her leadership.
Since joining from TSB two years ago, the Scottish chief executive has cemented Nationwide's status in the upper echelons of British finance, and it now ranks number two to Lloyds Bank in the mortgage market.
However, a Nationwide member who identified herself as Dr Standon used the meeting to accuse the board of being driven by money because of its aggressive growth.
She said: 'Your remuneration policy and your explanation for it, including in this meeting, suggests that unfortunately, your executive team are primarily motivated by money.'
Dr Standon branded it an 'obscenity' that Nationwide had decided to increase the pay, adding: 'One would expect the Nationwide to set an example to others.'
Tracey Graham, the chairman of Nationwide's remuneration committee, said the pay packages were needed to prevent top executives from leaving the building society, citing Lloyds Bank's pay deal for Charlie Nunn, its chief executive, which is 25pc greater than Dame Debbie's pay.
'I have never had any pressure or any requests from any member of the executive or senior leadership team about their pay. What we do as a committee is stand back. We look at all of the market data, including that is banks and building societies,' she said.
The pay deal was backed by members, with only 5pc voting against the new pay policy.
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