The chief executive of Britain’s second-biggest insurance group Aviva stepped down on Tuesday, becoming the latest victim of a growing shareholder revolt over pay for top managers.
Top British companies, and some firms abroad, are facing a wave of investor activism as shareholders rebel over high boardroom pay amid under-performance in the poor economic climate and state moves to clamp down on corporate greed.
“Aviva plc announces that Andrew Moss, chief executive officer (CEO), will be leaving the group and will cease to be chief executive with immediate effect,” the insurer said in a shock announcement on Tuesday.
Aviva said its incoming chairman John McFarlane would assume executive duties with immediate effect, tasked with helping to find a new chief executive.
“My first priorities are to regain the respect of our shareholders by eliminating the discount in our share price and to find internally or externally the very best leader to be our future CEO,” McFarlane said in a statement.
“I will meet all of the major investors over the coming days and weeks.”
Investors saluted the boardroom shake-up, with Aviva’s share price soaring 5.19 per cent to 318 pence and shooting to the top of London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was flat at 5,655.96 points.
Last week saw 54 per cent of its shareholders vote against Aviva’s remuneration report.
Including abstentions, almost 59 per cent of investors refused to endorse the group’s executive pay policy, in a result announced at Aviva’s annual general meeting in London on Thursday.
The chief executive of Britain’s second-biggest insurance group Aviva stepped down on Tuesday, becoming the latest victim of a growing shareholder revolt over pay for top managers.
The rejection vote was non-binding but nevertheless a major embarrassment for Aviva, which is Britain’s second-biggest insurance company after Prudential.
Aviva’s defeat came despite Moss bowing to investor pressure and waiving a pay rise that would have taken his salary above £1.0 million (1.24 million euros, $1.61 million).
Moss was last month awarded a 4.6-per cent increase on his annual salary of £960,000 but decided to decline it, AFP reported.
