Investors in Metro Bank are being urged to vote against the lender's pay report next month, in protest of a complex bonus scheme that shareholder advisers say is 'significantly out of line' with market standards. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) made the recommendation ahead of the bank's annual meeting on 2 June.
The concerns centre on the Metro board's use of a 'shareholder value alignment plan' (SVAP), which links executive payouts to the bank's share price. Chief executive Dan Frumkin could end up with a £60m windfall under the scheme. ISS said the plan remains 'significantly out of line' with market standards, and concerns were exacerbated by salary rises for 2026, with Frumkin's fixed pay rising 11.3% to £1.05m.
Frumkin's pay package more than doubled to £2.6m for 2025, up from £1.2m a year earlier, marking the highest payout for a Metro Bank chief executive since its founding in 2010. ISS also raised concerns about 'insufficient disclosure' of how Metro measured bonuses for non-financial targets, providing only 'vague descriptions'.
Despite record revenues and the highest underlying pre-tax profits in its history last year, ISS recommended a vote against the pay report. Metro Bank has been focused on a turnaround plan towards corporate lending after its near collapse in 2023, which forced a £925m rescue deal led by Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal, who now owns 53% of its shares.
A spokesperson for Metro Bank defended the policy, stating it is 'based on the delivery of long-term growth generation and the continued turnaround of the bank' and 'fully aligned with shareholders' interests'.
