The Work and Pensions Select Committee chair, Frank Field, has written to the Standard Chartered Remuneration Committee asking why it proposed policy that would include executive pension contributions four times higher than the rest of its workforce.

In the letter to Remuneration Committee chair, Christine Hodgson, Field asked why the proposal would see existing directors receiving pension contributions of 40 per cent of base salary, when contributions for other staff are 10 per cent.

He also questioned why the committee planned to pay new executive directors 10 per cent of total salary, rather than base salary, and whether it believed this was in line with the contribution rate for Standard Chartered’s UK employees.

The Investment Association guidelines and the UK Corporate Governance Code state that pension contribution rates for executives should be aligned with those of the workforce.

The Remuneration Committee put forward the proposal at the company's annual general meeting, but 36 per cent of shareholders voted against the plan.

Field also asked: “You consulted with 70 per cent of shareholders during the development of the new policy, was the balance of views expressed in that consultation in line with the result of the annual general meeting vote?

“If so, why did your committee put forward a proposal so unappealing to shareholders and if not, why did your consultation fail to identify shareholder concerns?”

Hodgson was also asked, as the policy was poorly received by the company shareholders, whether her committee would revisit the policy next year, and if she had asked its members to support the Investment Association guidelines.

Furthrmore, Field noted that Standard Chartered chief executive, Bill Winters, described picking on individual pension arrangements as “immature and unhelpful”, and asked Hodgson whether her and the committee agreed with his view.

This is not the first time the Work and Pensions Committee has questioned companies over their executive pension policy, with Lloyds Banking Group and G4S also being written to earlier this year.

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