Fidelity leads crackdown on executive pay

Fidelity has written to the boards of more than 400 companies and warned them it will start voting against remuneration packages for bosses from January unless changes are made which lead to more long-term incentive plans.

In a letter, seen by The Sunday Times, Fidelity's global chief investment officer Dominic Rossi (pictured) said many schemes are still too complicated and do not ask bosses to hold share awards for long enough. As a result, from January, Fidelity will vote against remuneration reports that do not require heads of companies to hold shares awarded under bonus schemes for at least three years. Looking further ahead, Fidelity is pushing for bonus schemes that have five-year lock-ins for senior executives, as it moves to combat short-termism. Fidelity has been arguing the case for chang...