Institutional investors criticised
Most institutional investors did not challenge the remuneration reports of leading banks in the run up to last year's financial crisis, the TUC has claimed.
The union organisation said in its annual survey of voting records of 20 leading fund managers and pension funds that investors failed to signal any great concern.
HSBC was the only bank to receive less than 60% for its remuneration reports, said a study.
The TUC also revealed that only one investor - Co-operative Insurance Society - opposed the acquisition of ABN Amro by RBS in 2007, now regarded as one of the worst deals in UK corporate history.
The TUC said its report also showed big differences between institutional investors in their general approach to boardroom pay.
"At one end of the scale six of the respondents to the survey had supported every remuneration report while six others supported fewer than half."
The TUC also complained about a low quality of publicly available voting data and said the response to its survey had been poor.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "The theory is that in modern capitalism company boards are accountable to their owners - the shareholders.
"But this is far from what actually happens.
"Instead, shareowners, mostly ordinary people saving through their pension funds, have no say."
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