Chelsea pensioner has £8.3m

THE former chief of Chelsea Building Society, Michael Bage, retired with a pension fund worth £8.3m, according to the report and accounts just published.

The value of his pension is equal to a fifth of annual profits and represents most of the society's £12.6m pension deficit.

It also propels Bage to the uppermost tiers of the UK's corporate pension league - even though Chelsea, with only 35 branches, is minuscule by FTSE standards.

Bage's pension will pay him an inflation-linked income of £293,000 a year, plus other benefits. It dwarfs the £2.9m fund of Philip Williamson, chief executive of the largest building society, Nationwide, which has 12m customers compared with Chelsea's 600,000.

Bage's pension fund soared by £1.8m in the past 12 months - though he did not contribute a penny. Hundreds of his employees who do not have a final salary linked scheme and who have to make their own pension savings, received a total of just £724,000 in contributions from the society.

The size of Bage's pension entitlement has sparked dismay among building society executives. The sector is trying to shed its reputation of being managed by boardroom chums who enjoy fat-cat perks.