I am pleased to share this commentary on the 30% variable pay cut for the DBS CEO, written on the invitation of CNA. They reflect my personal views.
On my LinkedIn post on this commentary, I added the following comments:
“It should be said that the remuneration that is disclosed here is based on accounting values. In other words, for share-based and deferred remuneration, it’s based on accrued amounts. This is not the same as realisable and realised pay. But that’s all that’s disclosed here. I used the comparable amounts for the Australian banks based on statutory amounts that follow accounting standards for an apple-to-apple comparison. Australian companies also disclose realisable and realised remuneration. I’m not suggesting that we make our disclosures as complicated or detailed as Australia, which require quite significant expertise to understand, but I think remuneration policies here are short on specifics.
I think SGX itself probably has the best remuneration disclosures because vesting criteria for performance shares are disclosed. We can debate whether KPIs are appropriate or whether they provide sufficient stretch, but at least if it’s disclosed, we can assess and debate. In most companies, we don’t really know to start with.”
