UniCredit SpA boosted Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel’s compensation by 30%, making him one of the best paid bank bosses in Europe.
(Bloomberg) — UniCredit SpA boosted Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel’s compensation by 30%, making him one of the best paid bank bosses in Europe.
The executive is set to receive fixed remuneration of €3.25 million ($3.5 million) this year, compared with €2.5 million last year, according to a filing published on the bank’s website. He will also receive variable compensation of as much as €6.5 million if the bank exceeds 2023 targets. The amount will be capped at €4.25 million —lower than his 2022 bonus — if it only meets the goals, leaving his total compensation flat from a year earlier.
The entire variable remuneration is to be paid out in equity and will be linked to the achievement of UniCredit’s net revenue, costs, capital and profit targets set for 2023, as well as some longer-term goals, according to the filing. UniCredit paid Orcel a bonus of €5 million for last year, the maximum target outlined by the lender, bringing his total compensation for 2022 to €7.5 million.
Orcel’s pay award at UniCredit caps a year in which the lender posted a higher-than-expected profit of €6.5 billion, cut total costs by 2% and increased shareholder payouts by 40%. Since taking charge at Italy’s second-biggest bank almost two years ago, Orcel, 59, has exited businesses, eliminated jobs in non-core locations and sought to focus on more lucrative products and capital-light activities.
Orcel’s pay, meanwhile, has been the subject of some debate, with shareholder adviser Glass Lewis opposing his initial €5 million bonus. The CEO asked for his fixed pay to remain unchanged the following year, after the bank proposed an increase.
A longtime dealmaker, Orcel is also still involved in a high-profile pay dispute with Spain’s Banco Santander SA. The executive claimed he lost millions of dollars in deferred compensation from his former employer UBS Group AG and years of prospective salary at Santander when the Spanish lender reneged on a 2019 plan to hire him. A Spanish court ruled that Santander must compensate the Italian banker €43 million for withdrawing an offer for Orcel to become its CEO.
Santander Chairman Ana Botin’s compensation for 2022 was more than €11 million, the bank said Wednesday. Her gross salary would increase 3% this year, according to the bank’s annual report.
UniCredit also increased the average bonus for its 935 top managers by 22%, it said in the filing, confirming a Bloomberg report. That’s likely one of the most generous rewards among European banks. In Germany, Deutsche Bank AG is considering slightly higher bonuses for its traders while drastically shrinking those paid to staff who help issue bonds and stocks, reflecting the strong divergence in performance between the two businesses.
Read more: UniCredit Set to Boost Bonus Pool by 20% After Strong Year
–With assistance from Nicholas Comfort.
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