LSE boss takes home £2.2m package after exchange’s pre-tax profits leap

LONDON Stock Exchange boss Xavier Rolet saw his pay package jump 13 per cent to £2.2 million last year in a hectic period for the group that saw a leap in profits but a failed takeover of Canadian counterpart TMX.

The London exchange’s annual report yesterday showed Rolet’s basic salary of £695,000 was boosted by a bonus of £1.52m in the year to end March 2012.

That compared with a bonus of £1.3m last time, which saw him receive a total package of £1.9m in the previous 12 months.

Raffaele Jerusalmi, the LSE’s director in charge of the capital markets business and chief executive of the group’s Borsa Italiana subsidiary, saw his total remuneration jump to £964,000 from £777,000 in recognition of his broader responsibilities over the past two years. Jerusalmi has also recently taken on responsibility for Post Trade services across the group.

The LSE’s pre-tax profits last year leapt from £238.2m to £639.7m as it made a one-off recognition in the value of its interest in FTSE International, the index compiler.

During the year the exchange took a controlling stake in LCH.Clearnet, the clearing house, but failed in its C$3.6 billion (£2.3bn) takeover attempt on TMX, the Toronto stock exchange, in 2011.