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Reflection on 2019 Executive Pay: Belgium and Luxembourg

In the recent report published by PwC, using CGLytics data and analytics, the critical trends from the 2019 proxy season for Belgium and Luxembourg listed companies surrounding executive compensation were revealed.

Reflection on 2019 Executive Pay: Belgium and Luxembourg

Analysis of votes on remuneration items shows an increasing focus on making sure companies have sustainable value creation and a growing expectation of increased disclosure of financial and non-financial information. Shareholders have become more active over the past few years and the average CEO total realised compensation seems to show a decreasing trend and is adapting slowly to the evolution of the total shareholder return.

Belgian companies see more revolt on remuneration items

Belgium listed companies were seen to be more active compared to shareholders of Luxembourg listed companies. The data of the Selected Index of 49 companies indicates that Belgian listed companies were more affected by shareholder revolt on remuneration items than Luxembourg companies.

Shareholder Rights Directive

Luxembourg successfully implementing SRD II, however Belgium failed to transpose the revised Shareholders Rights Directive to national law by the 10 June 2019 cutoff. Draft law implementing SRD II is being discussed in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives

The new Belgian Corporate Governance Code

The report sheds light on the new Belgian 2020 Corporate Governance Code (‘CGC’) compared to the 2009 CGC, which includes positive steps such as:

• A cap being placed on short-term variable remuneration awarded to executive management; and
• The principle that non-executive board members should receive part of their remuneration in the form of shares in the company.
• Particular attention to be paid to diversity, talent development and succession planning

Compensation design: Ratio of fixed versus variable remuneration

The report reveals that there is an increasing focus on long-term sustainable value creation.

The proportion of short-term incentives (STI) decreased from 2013 and continued to stagnate over the past few years. Next year’s analysis will tell whether the recent regulatory developments (the introduction of a cap on STI in the 2020 Belgian Corporate Governance Code) will impact the proportion of pay components.

To learn more about:

• The implementation of the revised Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II) into Belgian and Luxembourg law,
• Evolution of votes on remuneration items,
• Shareholder revolt seen in 2019,
• Detailed insights into the CEO compensation mix (Base Salary, STIs, LTIs), and
• CEO Pay for Performance alignment of the Selected Index

Download the report here

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Executive Compensation Benchmarking

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The DOs and DON’Ts when rethinking incentive plans

Why have 75% of first-time say-on-pay votes failed in 2019? A large number of negative votes can be attributed to incentives. Companies need to rethink their incentive plans and make sure metrics truly benchmark performance.

The DOs and DON’Ts When Rethinking Incentive Plans

Seventy-five percent of first-time say-on-pay (SoP) votes failed in 2019, and a large number of these negative votes focused on incentives.

There is an increasing need for companies to fully rethink their incentive plans, as the CGlytics whitepaper “How to take the testing of equity-based compensation plans into your own hands” points out.

“It is imperative that companies design their equity pay plans to ensure they receive shareholder approval first time, every time. In order to meet investor expectations, companies need to understand how they, and the proxy advisors they rely on, evaluate equity plans and make voting decisions.”

Marc Ullman, a partner with Meridian Compensation Partners explains what to do and what not to do in rethinking incentive plans.

First of all, companies need to fully rethink their compensation plans, and not to just tweak them. Making just a few cosmetic changes will not suffice to ensure that incentives are effective. At least every two years, a real restructuring is needed.

Often shareholder pushback will incite a rethink, but even with shareholder support, benchmarking for effectiveness is critical as priorities change and the business climate evolves. The plan must reflect the new realities the business faces.

Or the incentive plan may simply become too complicated to be useful, as continually including more metrics and other add-ons makes application confusing. This often happens as businesses try to simply tweak the plan instead of really rethinking it.

Here are the do’s and don’ts to achieve as near optimal alignment between pay and performance as possible:

– If you need a full-scale rethink, don’t settle for a mere tweak. Make sure that what you do matters, don’t nibble around the edges. Make sure the metrics truly benchmark performance.

– But don’t overdo it. Pick out the key metrics and focus on that; don’t try to transform the whole structure unless you really feel that you have to.

– As the rethinking process is underway, take note of the solid rationale that stems from the business model. This will be something to communicate at the end of the process, and one that can be used for grounding the basis of your thinking.

– Make sure you include all the right people: Finance, HR, Corporate leadership, corporate leadership and the business unit. Everyone should buy in to the metrics and the targets that are being set.

– Make sure your plan pays something in year one. After a big rollout you need to make sure that design provides results. Otherwise it could hurt your credibility.

– Take advantage of feedback from shareholder outreach. More and more companies are actively talking to shareholders, and their points of view should at least be considered as the design is taking shape. Consider investor relations and investor perspective and proxy advisors like ISS and Glass Lewis.

– Communicate internally and externally. You have multiple audiences internally.

Predict Shareholder Approval with Glass Lewis’ Equity Compensation Model

The Glass Lewis Equity Compensation Model (ECM) allows you to instantly test and review your incentives plan using the same key criteria and scoring system as leading proxy advisor Glass Lewis. The ECM supports testing of 4,300+ publicly-traded U.S. firms including the Russell 3000 and exclusively available via CGLytics.

With the ECM you can confidently engage, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your current and future equity plans. Ensure you get the votes to legally grant equity compensation to your executives, board members and staff.

Click here to learn more about the ECM application or request a no-obligation demonstration.