UniCredit shareholders back CEO Andrea Orcel and his pay rise
Orcel, one of Europe’s best-paid bankers, secures another three-year mandate
14 April 2024 - 17:32
byValentina Za
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Milan — UniCredit shareholders on Friday voted to give CEO Andrea Orcel another three-year mandate and backed the remuneration policy that makes him one of Europe’s best-paid bankers.
Shareholders representing 68.8% of the bank’s capital attended the meeting, with US asset manager BlackRock and German insurer Allianz the top two investors.
“I don’t take my position for granted. I see it as something that you have to continually earn,” Orcel said in written remarks to shareholders.
“We have made excellent progress in the last three years, but our transformation journey is not over ... We will be relentless in our determination to improve. This is the culture I want to spread across all levels of our group during my second term as CEO,” he added.
Orcel and the other board candidates put forward by the bank’s outgoing directors got 91.5% of votes, UniCredit said.
After a board meeting later on Friday, the bank said it had named Italy’s former economy minister Pier Carlo Padoan as chair of the board and academic Elena Carletti as deputy vice- chair.
Picture: REUTERS
Shareholders representing 88% of the share capital entitled to vote at the meeting backed UniCredit’s 2024 remuneration policy, which had drawn criticism from leading proxy adviser Glass Lewis.
After a clarification requested to the European Banking Authority over how to calculate the price of shares assigned as part of pay packages to the bank’s 800 so-called material risk takers, UniCredit has increased the CEO’s fixed pay by 10.8%, payable in shares.
The fixed pay now stands at €3.6m, with the overall target pay standing at €8.6m from €7.5m and the maximum pay, which applies when targets are surpassed, reaching up to €10.8m.
A former investment banker, Orcel has bet on an outsize cashback to investors as the way to lift UniCredit’s share price, which has almost closed a discount to book value that amounted to 70% when the CEO took over in 2021.
Europe’s most experienced banking dealmaker, Orcel has shied away so far from major deals, saying he would only move if he could preserve shareholder returns while boosting profitability by at least 10%.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
UniCredit shareholders back CEO Andrea Orcel and his pay rise
Orcel, one of Europe’s best-paid bankers, secures another three-year mandate
Milan — UniCredit shareholders on Friday voted to give CEO Andrea Orcel another three-year mandate and backed the remuneration policy that makes him one of Europe’s best-paid bankers.
Shareholders representing 68.8% of the bank’s capital attended the meeting, with US asset manager BlackRock and German insurer Allianz the top two investors.
“I don’t take my position for granted. I see it as something that you have to continually earn,” Orcel said in written remarks to shareholders.
“We have made excellent progress in the last three years, but our transformation journey is not over ... We will be relentless in our determination to improve. This is the culture I want to spread across all levels of our group during my second term as CEO,” he added.
Orcel and the other board candidates put forward by the bank’s outgoing directors got 91.5% of votes, UniCredit said.
After a board meeting later on Friday, the bank said it had named Italy’s former economy minister Pier Carlo Padoan as chair of the board and academic Elena Carletti as deputy vice- chair.
Shareholders representing 88% of the share capital entitled to vote at the meeting backed UniCredit’s 2024 remuneration policy, which had drawn criticism from leading proxy adviser Glass Lewis.
After a clarification requested to the European Banking Authority over how to calculate the price of shares assigned as part of pay packages to the bank’s 800 so-called material risk takers, UniCredit has increased the CEO’s fixed pay by 10.8%, payable in shares.
The fixed pay now stands at €3.6m, with the overall target pay standing at €8.6m from €7.5m and the maximum pay, which applies when targets are surpassed, reaching up to €10.8m.
A former investment banker, Orcel has bet on an outsize cashback to investors as the way to lift UniCredit’s share price, which has almost closed a discount to book value that amounted to 70% when the CEO took over in 2021.
Europe’s most experienced banking dealmaker, Orcel has shied away so far from major deals, saying he would only move if he could preserve shareholder returns while boosting profitability by at least 10%.
Reuters
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