King declines bumper pay hike

King declined a revised remuneration package, which would have seen his basic pay rocket by up to 37.6% to between £375,000 ($747,659) and £400,000. The new salary package was a result of a 2006 review carried out by the Bank's Remuneration Committee, which found that the governor's salary was low for the size and responsibility of the role. King became eligible for the revised package when he was reappointed in January 2008, but declined to accept it and will instead receive a 2.5% increase in his salary for each of his remaining five years in charge.

The Bank's governor and deputy governors received 2.5% pay rises last year, half a percentage point above the institution's inflation target but below the current level of inflation in the UK. The rate of increase dates back to when the Bank's target was 2.5% on the RPIX measure.

On 1 July 2007, the salary of Mervyn King rose from £283,564 ($564,891) to £290,653. Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, earns €345,252. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, will be paid $191,300 in 2008.

The salaries of the Bank's deputies, Rachel Lomax and Sir John Gieve, rose from £234,467 to £240,330.

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