Non-executive directors work an average of 16 days a year

Non-executive directors of large UK financial institutions are paid an average of 35,000 a year for just over two weeks work, a survey shows.

Medium-sized institutions pay 26,000, while directors at the smallest tier earn 20,000 on average, says the survey by Monks Partnership, the pay advisers.

A large company is defined as having a market capitalisation of at least 4bn (€6.4 bn) and a medium-sized one 500m. The non-executive directors at all the 38 companies surveyed work for an average of 16 days a year.

David Atkins, associate director of Monks, said that with the rising importance of audit, remuneration and risk assessment committees, the roles of the non-executive directors had become more onerous and the workload was increasing.

Furthermore, when problems arose non-executive directors were increasingly liable to explain to shareholders what had gone wrong.

The survey showed that non-executive directors were likely to outnumber executive directors within the financial sector.

None of the companies surveyed had appointed a female chairman. However, about 10% have women deputy chairmen, up from 5% a year ago.

Atkins said that he believed more women would be appointed to senior non-executive roles in the next five to 10 years, as there were increasing numbers with the necessary experience.

Companies surveyed include Abbey National, Alliance& Leicester, Amvescap, Caledonian Investments, Chelsea Building Society, Friends Provident, HSBC Holdings, Nationwide, L&G Holdings and Rathbones.