PTSB chief gets raise: Jeremy Masding’s total pay up 11% to €502,000

Permanent TSB chief executive Jeremy Masding received an increase of 11 per cent or €50,000 in his total remuneration last year. This brought his earnings for the year to €502,000, up from €452,000, according to the bank's annual report published on Wednesday.

His basic salary increased by €25,000 to €425,000, a rise of more than 6 per cent. while his other remuneration increased to €78,000 from €52,000 previously.

Other pay included a pension contribution of €51,000, a benefit-in-kind payment of €23,000, and taxable expenses of €4,000. This included a car allowance of €20,000, which was approved by the board for payment from January 1st 2016.

No bonuses were paid to executive directors last year, nor were any long term incentive arrangements put in place for them.

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Mr Masding’s salary remains within the €500,000 salary cap for executives enforced by the Government on domestic financial institutions.

The directors’ report on remuneration said the increase in pay for Mr Masding followed a review and was considered “appropriate” in light of market conditions and the Government’s guidelines on pay. It was Mr Masding’s first pay rise since 2012.

In December, Mr Masding told The Irish Times that the time was right for a "mature debate" in Ireland about pay for senior bank executives.

“For senior executives, there should be a bonus scheme but it should be for a very small proportion of your salary, 10 or 15 per cent, something like that,” he said. “The third bit is the long-term incentive, which might be a five-year vesting period. An incentive scheme that is tied to the business. That’s perfectly rational. In my opinion, that debate should start to be had.”

Exceptional costs

The increase in Mr Masding’s remuneration came in a year when the company recorded a loss of €266 million, which included €414 million in exceptional and restructuring costs.

Chief risk officer Stephen Groarke, who joined the bank in May, was paid €230,000 in remuneration. This included a basic salary of €181,000, a pension contribution of €22,000, a benefit-in-kind payment of €22,000 and taxable benefits of €5,000.

PTSB chairman Alan Cook was paid a fee of €180,000 last year, which was unchanged on 2015. He will retire from this role at the end of March with UK lawyer Robert Elliott announced this week as his replacement.

Aggregate fees paid to non-executive directors at the bank decreased slightly from €635,000 to €615,000 during the year as a result of changes to the board and committee membership.

Staff at PTSB received a pay increase of 2.2 per cent last year and a lump sum payment of 4 per cent, under a deal agreed by unions with the Labour Court.