Fat cat bank bosses earn £8.9m as windfall tax looms
The TUC says chief executives at Britain’s four biggest banks earned an average £8.9 million last year, far above the average full-time worker’s pay. The union…
Britain’s fat cat bank bosses earned an average £8.9 million each last year, according to the TUC, as the union body presses Chancellor John Healey to raise taxes on lenders in this week’s Budget. The proposed change could raise £9 billion over four years, the TUC says, with the money used to help cut household energy bills.
The figures put the four bank chief executives’ average pay at 182 times the £48,930 mean annual pay for a full-time UK worker last year. Banks are also reporting strong profits, which the TUC says strengthens its case for a windfall tax.
Pay packages and bank profits
Accounts cited by The Mirror show Lloyds chief executive Charlie Nunn received £7.4 million in pay and benefits last year, up from almost £6.2 million. His package included a near £1.4 million salary and £4.4 million in bonuses.
NatWest chief Paul Thwaite received almost £6.6 million, compared with just under £5 million in 2024. Bonuses accounted for £4 million. HSBC chief executive Georges Elhedery received a package worth £6.6 million.
Barclays chief CS Venkatakrishnan received more than £15 million, including £12.7 million in bonuses. He earned £11.6 million in 2024. The TUC also says finance chiefs at the four banks averaged £7.5 million last year.
“There is a mountain of evidence which shows banks can afford to pay more. While pay for those at the top of Britain’s banks spirals, the rest of the country is struggling to get by,” TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said.
The TUC says the four banks have made £200 billion in profit since 2021, when interest rates started to increase, and more than a billion pounds a week so far this year. The Mirror reported Barclays’ quarterly profits rose 12% to £2.3 billion.
Budget decision could affect energy bills
Healey is thought to be considering raising the surcharge on bank profits from 3% to 8%, reversing a tax cut introduced by former Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt. The Budget is scheduled for Wednesday, and banks are lobbying against higher taxes.
The TUC argues that revenue from a windfall tax should fund a cut in household energy bills. That would connect a tax on lenders’ profits directly to a cost facing households, though the source does not specify how any reduction would be delivered or which households would qualify.
Barclays chief Venkatakrishnan said last week that a tax increase was “bearable.” Lloyds chief Nunn has reportedly told investors the bank could withstand a surcharge of 4% or 5% without changing its profit guidance.
The TUC estimates that reversing the surcharge cut would raise £9 billion over the next four years, or £2.25 billion a year. Lloyds is due to publish its third-quarter results on Thursday, the day after the Budget, while NatWest is due to report on Friday.
Source: mirror.co.uk
