The man in charge of Britain’s stakes in bailed-out banks earned almost £230,000 last year, 27 per cent more than his predecessor, as he dismantles the nine-year-old state rescue.
Oliver Holbourn, a Bank of America veteran who joined UK Financial Investments three years ago, was paid a salary of £175,000, a bonus of £35,000 and nearly £20,000 in pension contributions in the past financial year.
It is understood that his basic pay has not increased as a result of his promotion to the role of chief executive. He took over from James Leigh-Pemberton, who served as executive chairman until April 2016. Mr Leigh-Pemberton’s £180,000 pay was cut in half as he stepped into a non-executive role.
The group’s annual report said that the changes had resulted in a lower overall wage bill for its two most senior staff.
Most of UKFI’s £100 billion in crisis-era support is being unwound, with varying degrees of return for the public purse. UKFI sold the last of its holding in Lloyds Banking Group in May, but it is the largest shareholder in Royal Bank of Scotland, with a 71 per cent stake.
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UKFI gave no hints in its annual report about when the rest of RBS might be sold, but it noted that “shares sales conducted through a retail offer remain part of our disposal toolkit, which we continue to consider when assessing disposal options for the government’s bank shares”.
The organisation also hopes to sell the final portfolio of Bradford & Bingley mortgages this year.
UKFI is being folded into UK Government Investments, a new part of the Treasury that holds publicly-owned assets including Channel 4, Network Rail and the Royal Mail pension scheme. Mark Russell, the UKGI chief executive, was paid £185,710 for his first year, plus up to £25,000 towards his pension. Performance-related pay at UKGI almost doubled to £432,000.
UKFI recently recovered £140,000 in legal costs from Sustainable Development Capital, the losing bidders for the Green Investment Bank, which was sold to Macquarie, the Australian bank, for £2.3 billion. The courts dismissed the consortium’s attempt to bring a judicial review of the sale in April.