Metro Bank Faces Revolt Over CEO Pay

Metro Bank faces renewed pressure over executive pay as investors are urged to reject the lender’s remuneration report at its annual meeting on 2 June. The challenge centres on a bonus structure that could hand chief executive Dan Frumkin a £60m windfall, raising questions about reward, disclosure and shareholder alignment during the bank’s turnaround.

Institutional Shareholder Services has recommended a vote against the report, citing concerns over Metro’s shareholder value alignment plan. The scheme links executive payouts to the bank’s share price, a structure criticised as significantly out of line with market standards. Those concerns have been sharpened by salary increases for 2026, with Frumkin’s fixed pay set to rise 11.3% to £1.05m after his total package more than doubled to £2.6m in 2025.

The governance tension is complicated by stronger financial performance. Metro reported record revenues, its highest underlying pre-tax profits and a share price increase of more than a quarter in 2025. Yet improved results have not removed concerns over how incentives are measured. The pay report has also drawn criticism for insufficient disclosure around non-financial targets, including people objectives and risk and regulatory performance.

Metro is still working through a wider recovery after its near collapse in 2023, when it accepted a £925m rescue package led by Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal, now its majority shareholder. The bank says its remuneration approach supports long-term growth, continued turnaround progress and sustainable value creation.

The dispute shows how executive reward can become most sensitive at the moment performance begins to recover. For boards, the lesson is that rising revenues and a stronger share price may support a pay case, but they do not replace the need for transparent targets, credible safeguards and a remuneration structure investors can clearly defend.