Dobson collects £4.5m from Schroders

Michael Dobson, the chief executive of Schroders, saw his pay packet swell by 53 per cent to £4.5m for 2003, as he picked up a £1.8m cash bonus and £2.5m in shares.

This year will be the last, however, that Mr Dobson, who was number 12 in The Independent's Fat Cat List in 2003, can look forward to a guaranteed bonus of £1.8m in cash. The annual payout was negotiated when he joined the company in 2001 and was scheduled to last three years. He was also entitled to £1.5m worth of shares a year, which this year have pocketed him £2.5m as the share price of Schroders increased from when they were originally allocated. If Schroders shares hit further targets by the year end, he could be entitled to a further £3.75m. He is not allowed to cash in his shares for three years, however, and would lose them if he quits.

The annual report of Schroders, published yesterday, also reveals how much it has cost the company to poach Richard Horlick from its rival Fidelity. He joined at the end of 2002 and is in line for a guaranteed cash payment of £1.3m in 2004, adding to a cash bonus of £1m for 2003. He was awarded £1.3m in shares and is promised another £1m for 2004.

Elsewhere in the financial sector, David Prosser, the chief executive of Legal & General, who ranked just behind Mr Dobson in The Independent's survey, saw £1.6m put in his pension fund. At £8.2m, this gives him an annual pension of £450,000. Richard Harvey, the chief executive of Aviva, yesterday saw a 23 per cent drop in his salary and package on last year, which included a one-off payment of £402,000. But his bonus increased 21 per cent to £312,000 and hesaw his pension pot rise by some £1m, giving him an additional £43,000 a year in pension income to £452,000.