Group chief faces protests

STANDARD Life Assurance chief executive Sandy Crombie is facing protests from policyholders at the Scottish insurer’s annual meeting over his pay package and plans to sell the company after its value has slumped.

The 55-year-old, who took over in January, had a 16% increase in his salary and bonus last year to £603,000 (€913,600) amid reduced payouts to Edinburgh-based Standard Life’s customers, who own the insurer. “How can the management justify their bonuses and stratospheric levels of pay, when performance has gone downhill,” asked Richard Painter, 46, a software sales director from Hemel Hempstead near London and a policyholder for 18 years.

Standard Life successfully defended itself in 2000 against efforts by policyholders to net windfall payments by listing the company on the stock market. Management now is having to abandon the 179-year-old insurer’s ownership status to raise money after cutting payouts on life and pension policies five times since 2002.

David Stonebanks, a policyholder who last year campaigned for the company’s demutualisation on the basis that it wasn’t being run properly, has asked about 3,000 members to vote against resolutions including proposed pay awards at today’s meeting in Edinburgh.

“I’ve been advocating people vote against everything in protest about how things have gone,” he said.