Pay for FTSE 100 chief executives increased over the past year, with boards utilising share bonuses in an effort to match compensation levels offered by US firms. A report from Diligent Market Intelligence indicates that the median granted chief executive pay in London's blue-chip index rose by 16 per cent, reaching £6.1m.
Long-term incentives now constitute over 54 per cent of executive packages, an increase from 52 per cent, as companies adjust their pay structures. Pascal Soriot, the chief executive of AstraZeneca, was the highest paid British chief executive, receiving £17.7m last year, with £11.6m of this coming from share bonuses.
Despite these increases, the pay for FTSE 100 bosses remains lower than that of their Wall Street counterparts. The median chief executive pay on the S&P 500, which tracks the top 500 US firms, increased by eight per cent to $18.2m (£13.7m), more than double the London average.