Executive pay is a moral issue say church investors

A report released today suggests theological backing for voting on company pay.

The report was commissioned in response to the growing public concern at excessive pay awarded to many senior corporate executives.

Despite comments on pay by church leaders, there was little theological backing for an ethical position on executive pay.

Consequently, the Church Investors Group, which has representatives from a range of Church denominations in the UK and Ireland, commissioned leading theologians, Rev Dr Richard Higginson and Professor David Clough, to provide a specifically Christian contribution to public debate on the issue and to guide its own members.

Individual denominations will now consider the report within their own governance structures.

"We have long expressed our objection to the natural injustice of many company pay policies by voting against significant numbers of them. Now we have firm theological foundations to support our stance on this issue of morality," said Bill Seddon, chief executive of the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church.

His comments were made at the launch of the Church Investors Group report, The Ethics of Executive Remuneration: a Guide for Christian Investors.

John Cunningham, Financial secretary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth and CIG chair, added: "This report will help bring theological insight into an area with which financial regulation alone is not equipped to deal. We hope that it will provide an accessible resource to help companies grapple with a problem threatening to alienate senior executives from the rest of society."

The Church Investors Group represents many mainstream Church denominations and organisations in Britain and Ireland.

Each member has its own investment policy but members work together on issues of common concern.

It has 37 members with combined assets of around £12 billion. It has four key aims:
• to encourage the formulation of investment policies based on Christian ethical principles
• to assist each other in putting such policies into practice
• to encourage responsible business practices through engagement with company managements
• to share information and views on ethical matters related to investment.