RSA chief executive, Stephen Hester pockets £4m on top of his £1m salary after a strong year which saw record underwriting results

After a very strong 2017 for RSA, chief executive Stephen Hester has come away with a £5m pay packet.

RSA achieved record underwriting profits in 2017, at £394m. In total, it wrote £6.7bn in premiums, and achieved a £20m increase in pre-tax profit from 2016, to £322m.

This is a stark contrast to many of its competitors, who saw a dramatic rise in claims as a result of natural disasters.

As a result, Hester, on top of his regular annual salary of £987,000, will get a £1m bonus, £2.6m as part of an incentive plan and almost £300,000 in pension-related benefits.

The former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) boss’ packet is 11% higher than what he received last year, just under £4.5m.

On the other hand, Hiscox scrapped its bonuses for senior executives after damage to profits because of the hurricanes in the US and the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Lloyd’s chief executive, Inga Beale took a pay cut of 15% after it posted a £2bn loss in 2017.