UniCredit to review CEO’s payouts
2022.12.03 10:10
UniCredit to review CEO’s payouts
Budrigannews.com – According to a document on its website, UniCredit in 2023 will review the salary of CEO Andrei Orsel before a general conference in 2023 to determine whether the increase in the results of Italy’s second largest bank in 2022 justifies.
In a letter late on Friday, UniCredit Chairman Pierre Carlos Padoan said that the bank’s Remuneration Committee would submit to the Board of Directors a recommendation on the salary of the general manager, “taking into account the opinion of investors, as well as broader stakeholders.” He also stated that the CEO did not ask for a raise.
According to the latest remuneration report from UniCredit, the bank could not be rewarded for the increase in planned results, since the current structure of remuneration for working staff and the established regulatory threshold limiting variable pay by 2 times in a fixed amount.
“The board analyzed Orcel’s compensation package taking into account the significant presentation that took place under the leadership of its head in 2021,” the report says. He added that “Orsel has separately said that he prefers to keep a fixed salary and carefully link variable wages to performance objectives.”
He said that “the Government agrees …” and will review the amount of Orcel’s remuneration before the general meeting of shareholders in 2023 in connection with the results and progress achieved in 2021-2022.” From April 2021 The former head of the UBS investment and banking group took part in UniCredit, promising to end the period of “active reduction” with the previous CEO, who is not risk-averse Jean Pierre Moustet.
Despite the fact that Orsel is reorganizing the bank in business, he has yet to reach an agreement on mergers and acquisitions, like his predecessors. Orcel promised investors in 2024 to return more than 16 billion euros in dividends and repurchase, abandoning the proposed purchase of Monet dei Paschi, a smaller competitor.
After the war in Ukraine, as well as the energy crisis forced the banking inspection authorities to take precautionary measures, he argues that banks can achieve distribution goals, even in severe recessions.
Leading investor consulting companies have expressed concern about Orsel’s salary for March, and he narrowly avoided storming shareholders for a salary twice as high as Moustier after he joined Unicredit.
Analysts say that Orsel is one of the highest managers of European banks with an annual bonus of up to 7.5 million euros. UNICREDIT shares rose from 8.5 euros long before Orsel came to power, to a 4-year high of 15.7 euros, thanks to the promise of its distribution. This allowed the general manager to get ammunition for a potential M&A deal, which will be paid for with shares.
However, the significant influence on Russia of the bank, which Orcel still retained, caused the shares to fall again on Friday, and on Friday they closed at 12.5 euros. According to sources aware of the current situation, UniCredit has achieved a salary increase for Orcel, the Financial Times reports.
