Bank chief's earnings down 16%

Lloyds TSB chief executive Eric Daniels took home £1.06m (€1.6m) during 2003 - 16% less than he earned the previous year, the bank said today.

The group’s annual report showed that Mr Daniels earnt a basic salary of £596,000 (€907,500) during the year and a performance related bonus of £258,000 (€392,900).

In addition he received other benefits worth £210,000 (€319,700) towards housing, education and financial advice.

Lloyds TSB said the drop in his pay was due to a slightly lower bonus and lower benefits in 2003 than during his first year with the group.

In addition to his pay Mr Daniels also had £347,000 (€528,300) paid into his pension, to give him a pot worth £711,000 (€1.1m), the equivalent to a pension of £51,000 (€77,600) a year.

The group’s deputy chief executive Michael Fairey received the highest remuneration for the year of £1.14 m (€1.7m).

His salary of £498,000 (€758,100) and bonus of £208,000 (€316,600) was boosted by other benefits worth £434,000 (€660,700) , including contributions to a separate pension fund, on top of the £977,000 (€1.5m) paid into the group scheme.

Lloyds TSB recently reported profits of £4.35bn (€6.6bn), a 66% jump on the previous year following the sale of a number of overseas businesses.

But Mr Daniels’ pay is dwarfed by the £3.9m (€5.9m) paid to Barclays’ chief executive Matthew Barrett, who saw his pay double during the year after leading the bank to profits of £3.84bn (€5.8bn).

And the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland Fred Goodwin received a bonus of nearly £1m (€1.5m) after the group recorded record profits of £7.15bn (€10.9bn), giving him total pay and bonuses of £1.9m (€2.9m), as well as shares worth around £1.3m (€2m).