The business secretary said the administration’s pressure had given shareholders a fresh confidence: ‘There’s a action going on, a very healthy one, where investors are taking control of the companies they own.’Business secretary Vince Cable has urged shareholders to keep up the pressure on boardroom pay as he pledged to press ahead with his plans to palm investors fresh powers to clamp down on excessive bonus deals.After a fortnight of huge protests by Megalopolis investors about pay at underperforming companies, Cable welcomed the “very healthy” signs that shareholders are finally taking control of the companies they own.Cable said: “There is a broader movement. It’s about reacting to extremes. We’ve seen ludicrous levels of payments unrelated to performance.”Some 60% of shareholders failed to back executive payouts at insurance corporation Aviva on Thursday – putting intense pressure on chief executive Andrew Moss.The insurer was among five companies to face protest votes on that day alone. On Friday three more companies – engineering corporation IMI, Avocet Mining and promotional products corporation 4imprint – faced rebellions. At FTSE 100 corporation IMI more than 30% of investors failed to support a fresh boardroom incentive plot. Nearly 20% of investors failed to back Avocet Mining while nearly 25% failed to back 4imprint’s pay policies.”Investors demand to keep it up,” said Cable. “It needs to be sustained.”Cable is currently considering whether to give shareholders more ability by making the annual ballot on remuneration binding on companies. It is currently only an advisory ballot which companies can simply ignore. He is also considering ways to simplify the path executive pay is told.The business secretary believes the administration’s pressure has given shareholders fresh confidence: “There’s a action going on, a very healthy one, where investors are taking control of the companies they own. It’s a very positive trend. We’ve reinforced it, giving them the confidence [to ballot].”Without pre-empting the outcome of the consultation, he said, “it is certainly our intention to have a binding ballot”. The consultation also floated the thought of having a “super majority” threshold for votes on remuneration reports – which currently have a 50% pass rate – although he conceded that the consultation was looking at issues about whether a majority investor might be able to have disproportionate influence.Pay policies at international companies such as Citigroup in the US and UBS in Switzerland have also faced opposition. A revolt at Citigroup at the end month – where investors voted down the £9m pay packet of chief executive Vikram Pandit – kicked off a wave of unexpectedly large rebellions. At Barclays one in three investors failed to back the bank’s pay policies. The Aviva ballot this week was only the fourth age a FTSE 100 corporation has had its pay polices voted down in the 10 years since the remuneration ballot was introduced.The revolts are taking place in the midst of the annual common meeting season and further tensions could emerge in the coming days at companies as diverse as bookmaker William Hill, commodities trader Glencore and the materials science collection Cookson.Investor body Pirc is advising its clients, pension funds and community authorities to ballot against the Cookson report in protest over the corporation’s performance and choice to palm outside bonuses. The payouts comprehend an estimated £7m to chief executive Nick Salmon from a extended-term incentive plot after a five-year period in which the corporation has lost 86% of its value.Cookson disputed Pirc’s analysis and said it does not reflect the achievements of the contemporary management team.Executive pay and bonusesVince CableLiberal-Conservative coalitionJill Treanorguardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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