Scottish National Investment Bank boss picks up bonus despite £14m loss

Scotland’s state-funded investment bank has awarded its chief executive a bonus worth more than £8,000 a month even though it recorded a £14 million loss.
Al Denholm’s total package at the Scottish National Investment Bank is worth in excess of £335,000, with a basic salary of £220,000 and pension contributions of £26,400.
Under a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) Denholm got £88,902 after hitting a series of performance targets. Half of that bonus sum gets paid this year with a further £22,226 following in both 2025 and 2026 if objectives continue to be met.
Denholm joined the bank in May last year, meaning his remuneration was for an 11-month period in the financial year which ran to March 2024.
In total £865,000 was allocated to staff through long-term incentive schemes, up from £709,000 in the previous year, while staff numbers rose from 64 to 76.
In SNIB’s annual report its remuneration and nominations committee confirmed a payout equivalent to 80.7 per cent of the maximum LTIP would be given to eligible participants.
It said: “This was based on having achieved, in aggregate, above target level of performance against the performance conditions.”
The bank runs a separate bonus for other staff not eligible for the LTIP and which is called the Mission Contribution Reward Scheme. The average payment there was worth £3,477 and 44 employees received something.
The bank was launched in November 2020 and Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister at the time, had previously warned against the creation of a bonus culture. It operates independently from Holyrood but ministers have pledged to give it £2 billion over its first decade in operation.
SNIB invests across broad missions set by politicians which cover innovation, net zero and communities. The annual report states the median remuneration of full-time staff was £89,999. It also noted £335,343 had been paid to eight temporary consultants, down from the £479,107 in the prior 12 months.
SNIB’s annual report, which was laid before parliament on Tuesday showed it made a £14.6 million pre-tax loss. Part of that was the £8 million it lost after backing Circularity Scotland, the company set up to run the failed deposit return scheme which was aiming to improve bottle and can recycling rates.
There was a further £9.8 million of losses relating to some other investments being valued at less than they previously were.
SNIB pointed to a near doubling of its income to £19.3 million, meaning it had for the first time covered its own operating costs which came in at £16.1 million.
The investment losses meant there was a statutory pre-tax loss of £14.6 million, down from a £20.2 million loss in the prior year.
Across the 2023-24 financial year it committed £224.6 million which it stated had helped to bring in more than £400 million of private money.
The £640 million SNIB has invested to date has helped to secure about £1 billion of private capital.
Douglas Lumsden, from the Scottish Conservatives, said: “Scottish taxpayers will be shocked at the significant bonuses and salaries being handed out at the Scottish National Investment Bank.
“The SNP’s flagship national bank is continuing to rack up eye-watering losses, yet failures are continuing to be rewarded.
“Taxpayers need to see full transparency about what the future holds for SNIB, rather than a typical culture of SNP secrecy surrounding its dealings, which have often left taxpayers footing the bill.”
Denholm pointed out the long-term incentive payouts are based on a range of targets set by the board and look at how the business is performing.
He said: “We’re held to account by the board in a thorough process to review what those payouts should be. “It’s meticulous and so I would say they reflect what we’ve delivered in the year.”
Denholm pointed out that SNIB had come in below what had been budgeted for in its overall costs and he remains confident the overall investment portfolio will deliver long-term returns.
He said: “I think we’ve got to the stage of having our critical mass. We’ve got our people, our processes, our portfolio [and] we’re creating the right impact in the market.
“The overall portfolio, we think, is moving absolutely in the right direction and and not just financially, it’s also making good impact as well.
“So it is creating jobs, building houses and acting as a catalyst for other investments to happen alongside us.”
In May, Willie Watt, SNIB’s chairman, warned budget cuts handed down by Holyrood would hamper the bank’s attempts to become self-sustaining.
SNIB has £181 million to spend in the 12 months to March next year compared to the £250 million it had hoped to receive.