Latest news with #Frumkin
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Metro Bank risks backlash as investor advisers warn over scheme that could hand CEO £60m
Metro Bank is at risk of a shareholder backlash, after two influential shareholder advisers warned over a complex bonus scheme that could hand chief executive Daniel Frumkin a £60m windfall. ISS and Glass Lewis – both prominent proxy advisory services that suggest how shareholders should vote on company policies at annual meetings – are concerned that the new long-term bonus will be linked to the bank's share price, which may climb regardless of how well bosses run the lender. The reports, published before Metro Bank's annual shareholder meeting on 20 May, suggest it could lead to excessive, and potentially unwarranted, windfalls for bosses including Frumkin. Related: UK ministers to meet bank bosses over lending to small businesses Under the new plan, a bonus would be paid out after five years depending on how high the share price climbs over the long term. Metro Bank's share price currently sits at about 110p, and would have to climb above 120p in three years' time for the bonus to kick in. A jump to 437p during that period could earn Frumkin a one-0ff payment of up to £60m. That would be a major windfall for a chief executive, who last year earned a total of £1.15m, thanks in part to a £153k bonus. Metro was first high street bank to open in the UK in more than 100 years when it was launched by the US billionaire Vernon Hill in 2010, attracted a wave of customers with dog-friendly branches and seven-day opening hours. But Metro Bank suffered in the years that followed. Its share price was all but wiped out in 2019 following a devastating accounting error the led to the resignation of it top executives and founder. It took a further dive in 2023 when it emerged the bank would need more cash from investors after it failed to convince regulators that Metro could be trusted to asses its own risks. Metro was forced into the hands of the Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal as part of a £925m rescue deal in 2023, leading to a massive turnaround plan that has involved more than 1,000 job cuts and a decision to close branches on Sundays. ISS said Metro Bank had 'not put forward a convincing case' to support the new bonus plan, while Glass Lewis said it had 'severe reservations about recommending shareholders support the remuneration policy at this time'. 'Participants may be eligible for extremely high payouts based largely on market forces,' Glass Lewis said. 'We generally prefer that incentive awards reflect underlying performance measures that correlate to long-term growth, with appropriate limits.' 'We recommend that shareholders vote against this proposal,' Glass Lewis added. Both proxy advisers recommended that shareholders reject a special resolution related to the new bonus scheme, as well as the wider remuneration policy. The remuneration policy, which is being overhauled outside the normal three-year cycle, also proposes a jump in annual bonuses that can now be worth up to 150% of salary, compared with 100% previously. The proposed change is likely to be voted through, given the bank is now 53% owned by Bacal, who also sits on its board. However, it could still result in an embarrassing rebellion from remaining shareholders. Metro Bank said in a statement: 'The remuneration committee's approach is based on the delivery of long-term growth generation and the continued turnaround of the bank. The proposed policy is fully aligned with shareholder's interests and the creation of shareholder value over a sustained period.' Metro has also been called out for falling short on gender diversity, as women account for just 27% of the board. That is shy of the 33% target set for FTSE 350 firms in line with the Hampton-Alexander review and 40% targets set by the FTSE Women Leaders review. ISS said it had given 'qualified support' for the Metro Bank chair, Robert Sharpe, as a result. Metro Bank pointed to a comment from its annual report stating: 'We recognise the benefits of having a balanced and diverse board which represents the views, experiences and backgrounds of our customers and colleagues. We are committed to increasing the diversity of our board over time and in line with our board succession plan.'
The Hill
14-02-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Authors of nixed nature report plan independent release
President Trump canceled the National Nature Assessment, which began its work under the Biden administration, shortly after he took office in January. It would have been due for submission to the White House earlier this week. 'The idea was that we don't have a good national inventory of the state of nature,' Howard Frumkin, a professor emeritus of environmental science at the University of Washington School of Public Health who was lead author on the report's chapter on the relationship between nature and public health, told The Hill in an interview. 'We know a lot about our economy, we know a lot about our transportation infrastructure and our kids' academic achievement, but nature is such an important basis for the economy and for health and well-being, for cultural benefits, but we never have had a good inventory of the state of nature across the country, of trends that may be affecting it, positive or negative, where and how it's delivering benefits,' Frumkin added. Frumkin called the decision to pull the plug 'a little mystifying.' 'This is really not a political or ideological topic. We know that across the country, in red states and blue states and red counties, blue counties, people love the nation's natural heritage,' he said. He pointed to his experience working at the Trust for Public Land, where he said Americans in Democratic and Republican areas and everything in between regularly voted to issue bonds to protect green space. The report has nearly 200 authors across 12 chapters covering nature's intersection with everything from the economy to cultural heritage, and had a target publication date of 2026 before Trump canceled it. However, Frumkin told The Hill, the authors are currently weighing options for how to publish the final report in another form.
The Hill
14-02-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump canceled a report on American nature, but the authors are still trying to share it
The researchers behind a massive report on the state of nature in America are seeking to release it despite President Trump's cancellation of the project, one of the report's authors told The Hill. Trump canceled the National Nature Assessment, which began its work under the Biden administration, shortly after he took office in January. It would have been due earlier this week. 'The idea was that we don't have a good national inventory of the state of nature,' Howard Frumkin, a professor emeritus of environmental science at the University of Washington School of Public Health who was lead author on the report's chapter on the relationship between nature and public health, told The Hill in an interview. 'We know a lot about our economy, we know a lot about our transportation infrastructure and our kids' academic achievement, but nature is such an important basis for the economy and for health and well-being, for cultural benefits, but we never have had a good inventory of the state of nature across the country, of trends that may be affecting it, positive or negative, where and how it's delivering benefits,' Frumkin added. Frumkin called the decision to pull the plug 'a little mystifying.' 'This is really not a political or ideological topic. We know that across the country, in red states and blue states and red counties, blue counties, people love the nation's natural heritage,' he said. He pointed to his experience working at the Trust for Public Land, where he said Americans in Democratic and Republican areas and everything in between regularly voted to issue bonds to protect green space. The report has nearly 200 authors across 12 chapters covering nature's intersection with everything from the economy to cultural heritage, and had a target publication date of 2026 before Trump canceled it. However, Frumkin told The Hill, the authors are currently weighing options for how to publish the final report in another form. '[W]e'll find the appropriate publisher and publication venue, and I have every expectation that we'll carry on with the work and deliver a rigorous, useful report,' he said. The publication date will likely be sooner than originally planned, he added, because removing the report from beneath the umbrella of the federal government will mean fewer layers of review are required. In the meantime, Frumkin shared an overview of some of his section's key findings with The Hill, including that exposure to nature is associated with broad improvements to health and well-being. The benefits, he said, range from stress reduction to heavier physical activity, lower blood pressure and improved birth outcomes. However, Frumkin and his team also found current trends that could affect the extent to which people experience those benefits. The combination of climate change and development means the increasing loss of biodiversity and nature and, potentially, some of the health benefits associated with them, he said. Other findings indicate trends in the opposite direction, though— for example, New England is more heavily forested now than it was a century ago. Other trends the team found, he said, 'don't have to do with nature as they have to do with human behavioral patterns and preferences.' 'So we spend less time outdoors than our great-grandparents did. We have more screen time. There's less of a psychological connection to nature, which we know is one of the mechanisms through which nature delivers benefits,' he added. The third major finding, Frumkin said, was that governmental policies can help realize those benefits in the larger population. 'Nature can't deliver health benefits if we're losing it. So policies that protect natural spaces, sea coasts, forests, grasslands, wetlands, can be policies that indirectly help benefit health as well,' he said. Ultimately, Frumkin said, 'if we need to pivot and issue it as a non-governmental report, I think that's just fine.' 'I think there may be an opportunity in terms of how nimble and flexible and far-reaching the report can be,' he said. 'So it's regrettable that it won't be the government document, but it would have been, but I think that the benefits of this report can still be made available to the American public.'
