More of Bank of Ireland's senior executive team are to receive stock awards under a widening of a fixed share allowance programme announced earlier this year for its top executives.
The move will see seven members of its group executive collectively receive a total of 27,995 shares worth €240,000, regardless of their performance, for the second six months of this year.
But it is understood that next year, the recipients will then receive a similar amount on a quarterly basis for each of the four quarters.
Among those set to benefit are corporate and commercial banking CEO Gavin Kelly, retail Ireland CEO Susan Russell, chief people officer Matt Elliott, chief customer officer Aine McCleary and chief strategy and transformation officer Enda Johnson.
"As communicated in our 2022 Annual Report, Bank of Ireland Group has introduced a Fixed Share Allowance for Executive Directors," the bank said.
"Following an external remuneration benchmarking review, participation in the Fixed Share Allowance has now been extended to a number of members of the Group Executive Committee."
The announcement was made in a stock market filing this morning.
Earlier this year, the lender said it would be giving group CEO Myles O’Grady and CFO Mark Spain, share awards worth up to 50% of their salaries.
Their awards are also not-performance related and do not begin until next year, when stock worth up to 25% of their salaries can be awarded.
The development followed the relaxation of pay restrictions at the country’s retail banks by the Government a year ago.
However, bankers at the main Irish retail lenders still cannot earn bonuses of more than €20,000 based on their performance, so the Bank of Ireland scheme gets around that by removing the performance element.
The bank also announced additional remuneration incentives for other staff earlier this year.
"These include the introduction of variable pay for colleagues at all level of the organisation - to be awarded in 2024 based on 2023 performance - and a new health benefit for colleagues in ROI and NI," it said.
The Irish banks have long complained that they were struggling to attract and retain talent because of the pay restrictions put in place by the Government following the financial crash, which saw lenders including Bank of Ireland, AIB and PTSB bailed out by the taxpayer, which in turn took stakes in the banks.
However, the Government no longer owns any shares in Bank of Ireland, having sold its stake down.
"Bank of Ireland Group is an international financial services business operating across Ireland, the UK, the European Union and the United States," it said.
"The range of changes to remuneration and benefits made this year allow the Group to compete on a more level playing field globally, with both banking and non-banking employers, to attract and retain the talent we need to serve our customers, innovate for the future, and grow and manage our business."
"A public consultation on share based remuneration was launched by the Irish Government earlier this week, noting that many businesses are placing increasing importance on this form of remuneration in rewarding and retaining employees."
