Standard Life boss volunteers for £700k bonus cut

Keith Skeoch, chief executive of Edinburgh-based insurance giant Standard Life, has chosen to slash his bonus potential by a fifth.

He will take a bonus package worth 400 per cent of his basic salary, rather than the existing 500 per cent bonus proposed by the board.

The move comes immediately before the firm’s AGM to be held next week, and after SL’s asset management business Standard Life Investments has recently voted against remuneration packages at Barclays, BP and advertising firm WPP.

In a statement, Standard Life confirmed Skeoch “voluntarily decided not to accept the maximum opportunity awarded to him in 2016” under the company’s long-term incentive plan.

Mr Skeoch took over from David Nish in August.

His salary for last year was £574,000 plus taxable benefits of £36,000, according to the company’s annual report.

However, in his first full financial year as chief executive Skeoch will receive a base salary of £700,000, Standard Life confirmed.

In 2014, when he was chief executive of Standard Life Investments, Skeoch received total pay of £5.88m.

That same year Nish received a total package of £6m making him the highest paid salaried executive in Scotland.