Bumper payout for Standard Life boardroom directors

Standard Life directors enjoyed bumper pay packets in 2012 with the chief executive of the insurance giant, David Nish, having nearly doubled his remuneration from £5 million from £2.6m in 2011.

Keith Skeoch saw his pay rise to £4.3m from £2.6m thanks mainly to a bonus from his role as head of the insurance group’s investment arm, Standard Life Investments (SLI), while finance director Jackie Hunt saw her remuneration rise over £1m, to £2.5m from £1.4m in 2011.

The remuneration report, published today in the firm’s annual accounts, said that the trio of executives will have their base rate of pay raised this year, rising “in line with increases awarded across the group’s wider work force”, the company said.

As of March, Nish saw his £775,000 base rate of pay rise 1.9 per cent to £790,000. Skeoch got a similar increase, from £425,000 to £437,750. Hunt has been awarded a 5.1 per cent increase in her base salary to £565,000. This came on top of a 7.5 per cent increase last year, which the company said was “in line with our policy of moving new appointments to a competitive level of pay over time as the individual becomes established in the role”.

Crawford Gillies, chairman of Standard Life’s remuneration committee, said boardroom pay was based on the committee’s view that “this has been a very strong year” for the insurer.