Former Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam earned £1m a month last year before jumping ship to Credit Suisse
Former Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam took home £5m in 2015, despite only being in the job until the end of May before taking the helm at Credit Suisse.
The majority of the pay packet came from £3.7m from a long-term incentive scheme, according to the British insurer’s annual report.
This basic salary for the first five months of the year stood at £455,000, topped up with an annual cash and share bonus of £704,000. More than half of the annual bonus was paid in cash.
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Shares in Prudential are down by around 20 per cent compared to 12 months ago, despite the company reporting operating profits up 22 per cent on the year before, hiking its dividend and bringing in a special dividend earlier this month.
In 2014 Thiam pocketed a total pay packet of £13.4m.
Earlier this month Credit Suisse released its annual report, revealing Thiam bagged £3.3m in his first six months at the Swiss banking giant after setting out plans for a turnaround which will see its investment bank shrink and greater emphasis put on wealth management business in Asia and other emerging markets.
Thiam requested a 40 per cent reduction in his bonus for the period due to the company's weaker financial performance.
Mike Wells, who replaced Thiam in June 2015, was awarded £10m in pay for the seven months he was in the job.
Well's annual salary in 2015 clocked in at £942,000, bolstered by a £3.2m bonus and £4.4m from the long-term incentive scheme.
Anthony Nightingale, chairman of Prudential’s remuneration committee said in the annual report:
The strong performance of the group has been sustained over a number of years, notwithstanding the external challenges faced by the group during this time. I am pleased to say that this impressive financial performance has translated into significant returns to the company’s shareholders.