Aviva chief waives 4.6% pay rise

The boss of insurer Aviva bowed to shareholder pressure today and waived a near-5% pay rise which would have taken his annual salary over the £1m (€1.2m) mark.

Chief executive Andrew Moss was awarded a 4.6% rise in March on his £960,000 (€1.1m) annual salary but has decided not to accept the increase following talks with major investors.

The decision, which was accepted by the board, comes after investor group Pensions Investment Research Consultants (Pirc) called on shareholders to vote against Aviva’s executive pay report at its annual meeting on Thursday.

Banking giant Barclays was stung by its shareholders on Friday after nearly a third of their votes failed to back the bank’s bumper pay awards.