Unions and shareholders have welcomed a decision by Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester to defer part of his controversial £9.6m pay package.
The Government appointed Mr Hester to the helm of RBSafter making the bank 70% owned by the taxpayer.
But there was an angry reaction to the decision to pay the bank boss a basic salary of £1.2m - and then award him £3.4 million-worth of bonus shares.
Mr Hester moved to stem the criticism by deferring the £3.4m award until 2014.
He had also been due to receive a £2m non-cash bonus each year and £6.4m-worth of long-term share and option awards, dependent on targets being met.
But his concession will see more than half of the maximum long-term awards deferred for another two years.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) - the body that represents around a fifth of UK investors - backed the decision.
"Peter Montagnon, director of investment affairs at the ABI, said: "This is a significant and welcome development.
"Large awards are fine if real value is created, but it must have a sustainable and long-term focus.
"This is why we suggested a deferral and why we are grateful to Mr Hester for listening."
But there have also been criticisms that the decision to tie the chief executive's bonus mainly to the performance of shares could encourage risk.
The Unite union hit out at the payout, saying it would be met with "absolute disbelief" by finance industry staff.
The package was agreed last week within days of the announcement that disgraced former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin had bowed to pressure and offered to hand back more than £210,000 a year of his pension payout, reducing the total yearly pay from £555,000 to £342,500.
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