By any account, comparing compensation across the life insurance industry is a tricky business. Institutional Shareholders Services Inc (ISS) cites 20-plus long-term benchmarks and nearly 40 short-term ones that may contribute to an executive's realizable pay. The one existing standard, Summary Compensation Tables (STC) pay, is a combination of actual pay (salary and annual incentives) and target pay for long-term awards.
The obvious benefit of this standard is its relative simplicity. "We prefer to stick with the SEC-mandated disclosures found in summary compensation tables in keeping with our KISS philosophy — keep it simple, stupid!" says Kevin McManus, editor and president of ProxyTell LLC, a proxy advisory firm. "We use these numbers because they're easy, simple and accurate."
