Standard raises chief's pay 50%

MALCOLM Williamson, chief executive of Standard Chartered, saw his pay rise last year by nearly 50 per cent to pounds 529,000, including a bonus of pounds 175,000, writes John Willcock.

The bank's former chairman, Rodney Galpin, received a pay-off of pounds 703,939 after he was replaced by Patrick Gillam in May 1993.

Standard Chartered raised its total bonuses to directors from pounds 200,000 in 1992 to pounds 963,000 in 1993. Total emoluments to directors in the same period rose from pounds 2.2m to pounds 3.7m.

The details were contained in Standard Chartered's report and accounts for 1993 published yesterday. The bank increased its pre-tax profits from pounds 189m in 1992 to pounds 401m in 1993, helped by a fall in provisions against bad debts from pounds 364m to pounds 233m.

The report also referred to a longstanding legal action by a Malaysian businessman who is claiming pounds 100m from the bank in the Singaporean courts.

Monsia Investments, controlled by the businessman Data Yap Yong Seong, claims that Standard sold off too cheaply a number of hotels, pledged by the company as collateral, which the bank seized when the loans went sour.