The remuneration of executives remain a sensitive issue in Britain

Britain: increase in small and large gaps

According to the Association of British Insurers, the increase in the remuneration of the FTSE100 patterns slowed last year, with an increase in wages limited to 5.3 and the bonus "to" 90 of the salary. The remuneration of executives remain a sensitive issue in Britain. Richard Lambert, CBI, British Medef President, recalled recently in a very noticed speech that patterns of the 100 largest UK firms have won 81 times more that the average of the employees in 2009, against 47 times more in 2000. He found that there was a risk that the public does not include these fees and that the CEO should be treated as "aliens" of "another Galaxy". According to Jon Terry of PwC cited the "Financial Times", the average earnings last year of the patterns of the 50 largest listed companies reached 3.7 million (EUR 4.3 million). The pattern of Reckitt Benckiser has been paid more than 90 million pounds (EUR 103.4 million) last year.

Back in the United States

In the United States, the salaries of the patterns were decreased for the second consecutive year. According to the specialized company Equilar, the average earnings for patterns of listed companies is 15 to 9.5 million over the previous year. The median pay is down 13 to $ 7.7 million, which brings back the emoluments of the President and CEO to their level of 2004. It should be noted that the median value of the functions of securities and options has declined by 19 and 28 respectively. This explains in part because they have been granted early 2009, when the shares were lower. The classification of Equilar place Larry Ellison, the boss of Oracle at the top of the CEOs of the top 200 listed companies with an annual income of 84.5 million in 2009.

Japan: opacity

Unlike other major developed countries, the salaries of the major patterns of Japanese listed companies do not include or share variable or stock options. The problem is not to reward performance. Conversely, the system appears more egalitarian because differences in wages within the same company are significantly smaller in the Japan in Europe or the United States. For several months, the debate posed by the Government to make public the remuneration to improve corporate governance is not close to lead to more accurate information. In February, the financial markets regulatory authority acknowledged that greater transparency would be in the right sense everything immediately felt that the damage caused by encrypted revelations could promote social tensions.

2009, year of transition for the leaders of the DAX

The total remuneration of DAX - the index of German - reference patterns are distributed to rise ( 10) in 2009, after having fallen by some 20 per cent the previous year. This is the pattern of the Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann, who arrives at the top of the standings with 9.55 million euros in total, followed by the President of the Executive Board of the energy group RWE, Jürgen Grossmann, with EUR 7.91 million. This is Martin Blessing, patron of the Commerzbank, which closes the ban with "only" 570,000 euros. Subject: the ceiling imposed by the Government to the banks recapitalized with public money. For the association of small shareholders, "we are still in a transition period, Parliament has indeed implemented a reform of remuneration of the members of the Executive Board, but its effects will fully felt that in 2011." The new texts emphasize the orientation of the variable elements of the salary the performance leaders long term. Last year, the remuneration of the members of the Executive Board have declined slightly, to EUR 2.30 million on average in 2008 to 2.28 million in 2009. Supervisory Board members have recorded a decrease greater than 15 of their packages, the decline largely explaining by the policies of four groups, including Lufthansa and MAN.