Metro Bank: Who is CEO Daniel Frumkin? - Salary explained

Metro Bank, the latest high street bank to launch in the United Kingdom for over 150 years, has announced customer deposit flows have stabilised ahead of its emergency refinancing package. The bank saw its shares dip last month after asking investors to help shore up its own bank balance.

Metro Bank raised £325 million in capital and £600 million in debt refinancing, after crunch talks with shareholders in early October. The emergency talks saw Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal take a 53% majority stake in the bank after agreeing to contribute £102mn of new equity. The billionaire banker first bought 9 per cent of shares in Metro following another cash call in 2019.

The rescue deal follows a salary hike for the group's executive staff, including CEO Daniel Frumkin and CFO, James Hopkinson, announced earlier this year. The pay offer is well above the 5% salary rise granted to staff for 2023. But who is Metro Bank’s chief executive and what is his background? Here’s everything you need to know.

Who is the CEO of Metro Bank?

Daniel Frumkin, 55, was appointed CEO of Metro Bank PLC in 2020, succeeding Craig Donaldson, who had been in the role since the lender was founded in 2009. He started his career in banking at Citizens Bank in 1987, serving in various roles at the company before departing to join Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in 2004. By 2007, he had risen to Managerial Director of the retail products division.

Frumkin has worked in America, the UK, Eastern Europe and Bermuda - notably serving as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at The Bank of N.T Butterfield & Son LTD. He first joined Metro bank in September 2019 as Chief Transformation Office and helped the company revive its fortunes after the accounting scandal in 2019.

Frumkin was appointed Chief Executive Officer at Metro Bank in January 2020 where he is responsible for driving 'long-term growth' . He received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University and an MBA from Boston University.

Daniel Frumkin salary

Metro Bank's latest accounts, made up to 31 December 2022, reveal Frumkin receives an annual salary of £769,600. Last year he took home almost £1.3m including bonuses. Frumkin has been offered a 20% salary hike, which he has deferred until the start of next year. The salary hike will see him take home £925,000 annually. Shareholders were reportedly advised to vote against the pay increase, The Guardian reports.

Glass Lewis – an investor advisory firm - stated the rationale for the executive pay increase wasn't 'sufficiently compelling'. It comes after several investors voted against the companies' decision to award Frumkin a deferred annual bonus of more than £520,000 in 2021.