Chief executives showed pay restraint in 2009, study shows

Executive pay at FTSE companies was reined in last year as shareholder disapproval of excessive pay hit home, research has revealed.The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study, Executive compensation – review of the year 2009 , found that the median rise in base pay for FTSE-100 chief executives – 1 per cent – was less than the average UK worker’s pay rise (2.5 per cent) for the first time in a decade. FTSE-250 chief executives were even more restrained, with a median pay increase of zero. One in six CEOs from both groups received no bonus and the median bonus amount was reduced by 20 per cent.