Leaner times for boardroom fat cats

SHAREHOLDER pressure is forcing Britain's biggest companies to curb the worst boardroom excesses.

According to the Cooperative Insurance Society, a leading fund management group, the biggest impact is in the make-up of remuneration committees, which set executive pay.

Its latest annual survey shows that half the companies in the FTSE 100 now have independent pay committees, up from 40% two years ago.

And more of the bluechip firms have a majority of independent non-executive directors on the board - 85 compared with 80 the previous year as conclusions in the recent Higgs report on corporate governance are adopted.

Ian Jones, CIS head of corporate governance, said: 'It is encouraging to see a significant improvement in some key areas, suggesting that shareholders concerns are being listened to and companies are responding to recommendations.'

Even media tycoon Rupert Murdoch is having to toe the line: last week a controversial share option scheme for his News Corp executives was scrapped after an investor revolt. But Murdoch shows no sign of backing down over his ambition to install son James as the next chief executive of his BSkyB group, despite strong opposition from shareholders.

Only one Footsie company, supermarket group Morrisons, continues to flout almost every corporate governance rule. Its board has no non-executive directors, executive chairman Sir Ken Morrison is a former chief executive and the company doesn't even bother with an audit or remuneration committee.