Tag: resignation

UK Pension Group Accuses Barclays of “Misleading Shareholders” Over Executive Pay [UPDATE: Barclays Pay Chief Resigns]

Barclays

UPDATE: On Tuesday, Barclays announced the resignation of Sir John Sunderland, chair of the bank’s pay review committee.

Barclays says the resignation was unrelated to pressure from the LAPFF, who publicly called for Sunderland’s resignation on Monday.

The bank has been criticized by the LAPFF and others over high bonuses and compensation.

Read the original Pension360 story, published on Monday, below.

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The UK’s Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF), a group of 62 public sector pension funds, is taking Barclays to task for failing to replace the chairman of the bank’s pay review committee.

LAPFF, a group that has previously expressed outrage over bank’s “grossly excessive bonuses”, is now saying that the bank promised to replace the chairman of its pay review committee.

But 11 months after the promise, no change has been made.

More from BBC:

A leading pension body has called for the immediate resignation of Sir John Sunderland, chair of Barclays’ pay review committee.

It accuses the bank of “misleading shareholders” for saying before the 2014 annual general meeting (AGM) that Sir John would step down from the role to give way to Crawford Gillies.

Sir John is still in the post 11 months later, the LAPFF says.

Barclays declined to comment on the resignation call.

Barclays was widely criticised by shareholders for its pay policy at the 2014 AGM.

In a strongly worded statement, LAPFF chair Kieran Quinn said: “It is inexplicable how Barclays can have gone back on its promise to the 2014 AGM that Sir John would step down.

“Having messed up remuneration for 2013 Sir John has in fact stayed on as chair and presided over another year of still unacceptably high pay for 2014, and is still in place in March 2015.

“It’s nothing short of misleading shareholders.”

Mr Quinn went on to say that Sir John’s involvement in awarding “grossly excessive bonuses” and his support for former chief executive Bob Diamond, amongst other things, had been “disastrous for shareholder returns and the reputation of the bank”.

The LAPFF represents pension funds with collective assets under management of over $240 billion.

 

Photo by Roger via Flickr CC License

Philadelphia Pension Board Appoints Interim CIO

Philadelphia

The chief investment officer of Philadelphia’s Board of Pensions, Sumit Handa, announced his plans to resign earlier this month.

He officially left the post on January 15.

Now, the Board has appointed an interim CIO to take Handa’s place while a search for a long-term CIO plays out.

From Philly.com:

Francis Bielli, executive director of the Philadelphia Board of Pensions and Retirement, will be serving as the board’s interim chief investment officer, while the board conducts a search for a new CIO.

The board asked Bielli to put on a second hat, following Sumit Handa’s recent resignation. Handa, who was hired in 2011 to manage the investments of the underfunded $5 billion Philadelphia city workers’ retirement plan, is going back to the private sector, said Rob Dubow, pension board chairman and city finance director.

Bielli’s salary will get a $35,000 bump, totaling $204,000, to fill in the second job, the board announced at its meeting Thursday. A national search will be conducted to find a replacement for Handa.

Bielli will oversee the management of $4.7 billion in pension assets.

 

Photo credit: “GardenStreetBridgeSchuylkillRiverSkylinePhiladelphiaPennsylvania” by Massimo Catarinella – Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GardenStreetBridgeSchuylkillRiverSkylinePhiladelphiaPennsylvania.jpg#mediaviewer/File:GardenStreetBridgeSchuylkillRiverSkylinePhiladelphiaPennsylvania.jpg

Philadelphia Pension CIO Steps Down

Philadelphia

The chief investment officer of Philadelphia’s municipal pension fund has resigned and will leave the fund on January 15, according to ai-cio.com.

Sumit Handa is stepping down from his post at the Philadelphia Board of Pensions and Retirement to enter the private sector, but it isn’t yet know where he is going.

From Chief Investment Officer:

Sumit Handa is set to depart the $4.7 billion fund effective January 15, according to the pension system’s Executive Director Francis Bielli. An interim CIO and recruitment/replacement plan have not yet been determined, Bielli said, but the division’s board will settle both matters at an upcoming meeting.

“We appreciate Sumit’s contributions to the fund and wish him all the best,” Bielli told CIO.

Handa joined Philadelphia’s pension fund as CIO in June 2011. Prior to that, he spent six years as a portfolio manager for New York-based hedge fund DKR Capital.

He will be departing the public sector and Philadelphia for his next role as CIO of a major financial institution, according to someone with knowledge of the situation.

Salary information for the city pension’s CIO role has not been made public. However, similar positions for the municipality indicate compensation in line with most US public pensions.

In fiscal year 2012, the latest for which data is available, the city’s finance director and pension board chair earned a total of $171,456.

Handa oversaw the management of $4.7 billion in pension assets.

 

Photo credit: “GardenStreetBridgeSchuylkillRiverSkylinePhiladelphiaPennsylvania” by Massimo Catarinella – Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GardenStreetBridgeSchuylkillRiverSkylinePhiladelphiaPennsylvania.jpg#mediaviewer/File:GardenStreetBridgeSchuylkillRiverSkylinePhiladelphiaPennsylvania.jpg

Chicago Teacher’s Pension Executive Director Resigns

chicago

Kevin Huber, the executive director of the Chicago Public Schools Teachers’ Pension & Retirement Fund, has announced his plans to resign from the fund. From a fund press release:

Kevin B. Huber, executive director of the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund (CTPF) submitted his resignation and will leave the fund effective December 31, 2014. Huber joined the fund as Chief Financial Officer in 1999, and was promoted to Executive Director in 2005. He has been on medical leave since May 2014.

“Our Trustees thank Mr. Huber for the outstanding leadership and guidance he has provided our fund during the past 16 years. As CFO and then as Executive Director, he has worked tirelessly on behalf of our members and our staff, and has set a high standard for our fund,” said Jay C. Rehak, president of the CTPF Board of Trustees. “He brought a rare combination of professional and interpersonal skills to this position and we will miss him greatly.”

The Board of Directors has initiated a national search for candidates to fill Huber’s position, and is working with executive search firm EFL Associates. The fund’s current Interim Executive Director, Peter A. Driscoll, will stay on with the fund through March 31, 2015, to ensure a smooth transition.

CTPF manages just under $11 billion in assets.

Corrupt Ex-Governor Will Keep Pension After Latest Felony Conviction

CT Governor John Rowland

Former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland has been convicted of his second felony and is looking at up to 57 years in prison – but at least he has a pension to look forward to.

Rowland in 2004 resigned from the governor’s office in the midst of a criminal investigation where he eventually pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and tax fraud.

Now, he has been convicted of violating several federal campaign financing laws.

But he’ll keep receiving his $53,000 public pension. From the Missoulian:

A spokeswoman for Attorney General George Jepsen says he has no legal basis to revoke or reduce the 57-year-old Rowland’s pension because he’s a private citizen.

State law in 2008 targeted public officials convicted of a crime by preventing them from collecting a pension. Rowland, whose first conviction was in 2004, was unaffected by the new law because it was not applied retroactively. He resigned.

Rowland was convicted on Sept. 19 in federal court on charges he conspired to be paid for work on political campaigns while disguising the payments in business deals.

He’s due to be sentenced Jan. 7.

More on the most recent conviction, from the New York Times:

Six of the seven counts Mr. Rowland was found guilty of involved obstructing justice, conspiracy, falsifying documents relied on by federal regulators and other violations of campaign finance laws in connection with services he provided Lisa Wilson-Foley, a Republican candidate for Congress in 2012, and her husband, Brian Foley, an operator of nursing homes.

The Foleys pleaded guilty this year to related crimes and await sentencing. Mr. Foley served as the government’s star witness in Mr. Rowland’s trial.

Another of the seven counts, an obstruction charge, involved a contract Mr. Rowland drafted and presented to Mark Greenberg, a Republican congressional candidate in the 2010 election. That contract was never executed and Mr. Greenberg testified at Mr. Rowland’s trial that he ripped it up for lack of interest.

Rowland had already served 10 months in jail after he was convicted of fraud charges in 2004.

 

Photo credit: CT State Library c/o Photographer – Calabrese, Anthony via Wikimedia Commons