According to the statistics of reporters, based on the data of the 2020 annual report, the salary of independent directors in manufacturing ranks first, and the per capita salary of independent directors in financial industry is far ahead by virtue of the advantage of fewer people, and the personal salary of independent directors is obviously different.

At the end of 2009, there were about 1 2,065,438+2,000 independent directors in A-share listed companies, with a total salary of 944 million yuan and a per capita salary of 8 1 1,000 yuan.

In listed companies, there are a group of people who often do not participate in the daily work of enterprises like ordinary employees, but enjoy the salary distribution. These people are the "independent directors" of listed companies. According to Wind data, the reporter of Red Weekly found that at the end of 20 19, the number of independent directors of A-share listed companies reached about10.2 million, with a total salary of 944 million yuan and a per capita salary of 8 1 10,000 yuan.

In all major industries, the salaries of independent directors of financial listed companies are generally higher. Take a private bank as an example, its 20 19 annual report shows that the company currently has six independent directors, including Li Hancheng, Liu, and Liu, whose salaries both exceed 6,543,800 yuan, which is a substantial increase compared with 20 18. The high salary of independent directors of the bank is related to its governance structure. Historical data shows that the bank has been producing high-paid independent directors. 20 18, Liu was the independent director with the highest A-share price at that time, and his salary in that year was as high as 955,000 yuan.

In addition, some independent directors of China Ping An and China Bank are worth more than 500,000 yuan. For example, among the seven independent directors of Bank of China, Wang Changyun is the highest, and his salary in 20 19 was 620,000 yuan, an increase of130,000 yuan compared with 20 18 years. Recently, however, China Bank's proud "crude oil treasure" business has been attacked by the negative oil price, which is a crude oil futures product invested in the Chicago Stock Exchange. At the end of April, Bank of China announced in official website that it had entrusted a lawyer to write to the Chicago Stock Exchange, urging it to investigate the matter. According to the open letter, Wang Changyun is currently the president of the Hanqing Institute of Advanced Economics and Finance of Renmin University, and his published paper won the Best Research Paper Award of 200 1 year of Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The reporter of "Red Weekly" immediately inquired that Wang Changyun did publish an English paper on the study of agricultural products futures yield on 200 1.

Focus Media has four independent directors, among which Du Min and Ge Jun's annual salary is equal to 20 18, reaching 850,000 yuan, ranking first in the A-share independent directors' salary list. However, observing the performance of Focus Media, we can find that it has been in a downward trend in the past two years, especially in 20 19, and the net profit of18.55 million yuan fell by nearly 70% year-on-year. In the first quarter of this year, the company's net profit was only RMB 34 million, which was about110 of the net profit in the first quarter of 20 19.

After combing the salary data of independent directors released by Wind, the reporter of Red Weekly found that the annual salary of nearly 80% of independent directors in A-share companies is below 6,543,800 yuan, and even nearly 200 independent directors are between 654.38+ 0,000 yuan and 654.38+0,000 yuan. For example, Chen Shiqiang and Zhou Hucheng, two independent directors of *ST Suoling, received only 1 100 yuan last year. However, within the same listed company, there may be a big gap in the remuneration of independent directors. For example, Huang Changbing, an independent director of Hyde, earned 20190,000 yuan, while Li, another independent director, earned only 5190,000 yuan. Li's salary is too low or related to his short tenure. He took office on 20 19 19 in late February. But strangely, both Huang and Wang have experience in the securities and insurance industries, while Li previously worked in the party and government management positions of Hubei University of Medicine and Wuhan Institute of Physical Education respectively, and had no actual investment experience.

The most noteworthy is the independent director of Zhangzidao, and one of its independent directors, Long Xiang 'an, is paid only in 200 yuan for 20 19 years. Long Xiang' an began to serve as an independent director of Zhangzidao at the end of February 20 19, but he has not yet obtained the qualification certificate of independent director of Shenzhen Stock Exchange, so he can only "promise in writing to participate in the latest training for independent directors" and obtain the certificate of independent director. However, his post proposal was opposed by Luo Weixin, the director of the company, at the beginning of June 5438+ 10 this year. Luo bluntly "questioned whether this comrade is qualified for the position required by the meeting."

In fact, regardless of the salary level, in the major decisions of listed companies, the reporter of Red Weekly found that few independent directors voted against or abstained. "The independence of independent directors is the biggest problem facing the independent director system in China," Dong Dengxin, a professor at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, pointed out to the reporter of Red Weekly. "Independent directors are nominated by major shareholders or executives of listed companies, mostly for the purpose of increasing income, and cannot meet the post requirements."

According to the statistics of the First Financial Reporter, based on the data of the 2020 annual report, the salary of independent directors in the manufacturing industry ranks first, totaling 640 million yuan, while the annual salary of independent directors in the service industries such as residential services and repairs with the lowest salary is only 6.5438+0.2 million yuan, and the salary difference between the two industries is more than 5,000 times; Although the salary of independent directors in the financial industry is slightly lower than that in manufacturing, information transmission, software and information technology services, the per capita salary of independent directors in this industry is far ahead with the advantage of fewer people, among which banks are the most generous sub-industries.

Judging from the companies where independent directors work alone, last year, Li Hancheng ranked first in the A-share independent directors' salary with 990,000 yuan, while the annual salary of four independent directors, such as Liu, Peng Xuefeng and so on, was above 880,000 yuan, even higher than that of some small-cap listed companies.

The pay gap of independent directors exceeds 5000 times.

Choice data shows that by the end of 2020, there were 4,358 A-share listed companies, of which 2,946 independent directors worked in several companies at the same time. These listed companies have 65,438+00,205 independent directors. In 2020, the total remuneration of independent directors will be about 65.438+0.95 billion yuan, with an average of 65.438+0.06 million yuan.

According to the industry classification of CSRC, among the 19 industries corresponding to A-share listed companies, the total remuneration of independent directors in manufacturing industry is the highest. Last year, listed companies in this industry paid subsidies to independent directors, totaling 640 million yuan, accounting for about 60% of the total remuneration of independent directors in A shares.

Followed by information transmission, software and information technology services. In 2020, there were 1042 independent directors in this industry (regardless of the repeated employment factor, the same below). In 2020, the total remuneration of independent directors was 85.0810.5 million yuan, with a per capita income of 810.7 million yuan; The financial industry ranked third, with a total amount of 77750 1 10,000 yuan.

Due to industry differences, the salary level of independent directors of listed companies in different industries varies greatly. In other industries of A-share listed companies, the salary level of independent directors is significantly lower than the above three industries.

According to Choice's data, including the real estate industry, there are seven major industries, including wholesale and retail, electricity, heat, transportation and mining, and the total allowance for independent directors is between 20 million yuan and 50 million yuan. Among them, the wholesale, retail and real estate industries were 47.256 million yuan and 40710.5 million yuan respectively, lower than the manufacturing and financial industries.

Compared with the above seven industries, such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, education, health and social work, accommodation and catering, the salary of independent directors is lower. Last year, the total subsidy was less than100,000 yuan, while the annual salary of independent directors in the service industries such as residential services and repairs was only120,000 yuan.

According to the above data, in 2020, among the industries involved in A-share listed companies, the manufacturing industry with the highest total salary and the industry with the lowest resident service and maintenance, if the number of people is not considered, the salary gap will reach an astonishing 5,300 times.

Banks are the most generous to independent directors.

Although the total salary of independent directors ranks third, as one of the most profitable industries, the salary of independent directors in the financial industry is far ahead of other industries because of the small number of people.

According to public data, there are currently 4 13 independent directors in the financial industry. According to the total amount of 77.75 million yuan, the per capita allowance for independent directors of listed companies in the financial industry last year was/kloc-0.8 million yuan. Although the manufacturing industry is the largest, the per capita allowance is only 75,900 yuan, less than half of the financial industry, because the number of independent directors is as high as 8,437. In the same period, the salary of independent directors in the information technology industry was also around 8 1.7 million yuan.

Similarly, in the financial industry, banks, brokerages, insurance and other sub-industries, there is also a certain gap in the remuneration of independent directors, and the most generous is the banking industry.

According to incomplete statistics, there are 37 A-share listed banks in 2020, with * * * independent directors 153, with a total subsidy of * * * about 41000000 yuan and a per capita income of about 269000 yuan. There are 45 listed companies in the brokerage industry, and there are 65,400 in the brokerage industry.

Among the listed banks, Minsheng Bank is the highest paid independent director. In 2020, the bank had five independent directors with a total salary of 4.645 million yuan. In addition to Minsheng Bank, among other banks, six independent directors have a total salary of more than 2 million yuan.

Among the other 30 A-share banks, there are 10 independent directors whose salary level reaches one million yuan, and the total amount ranges from 1 10,000 yuan to10.92 million yuan. The remaining 20 companies are all within 6,543,800 yuan, and the lowest ones are only 233,000 yuan and 3,265,438,800 yuan.

In the brokerage industry, last year, the total remuneration of independent directors exceeded 6,543.8+0,000 yuan, only four * * * companies, the largest of which was 2,949,000 yuan, while Guotai Junan, CICC Jiantou and Guo Xin Securities ranged from 6,543.8+0,654.38+0.25 million yuan, and the least two companies only accounted for 6,544.

The individual salaries of independent directors differ by thousands of times.

Similar to industry differences, they are also independent directors, but in different industries, there are obvious differences in the personal remuneration of independent directors.

The first financial reporter combed the public data and found that among the A-share independent directors last year, the financial industry was "rich" in high-paid independent directors. Five of the top ten independent directors with a single company income of more than 800,000 are related to the financial industry, all from Minsheng Bank.

According to the disclosed data, five independent directors, including Li Hancheng, Liu, Peng Xuefeng and others, received subsidies of 990,000 yuan, 950,000 yuan, 965,438 yuan +0.5 million yuan, 905,000 yuan and 885,000 yuan respectively last year. If you don't count the part-time jobs of other companies, Li Hancheng's salary ranks first in A shares.

If the company's part-time job is included, the above-mentioned independent directors of Minsheng Bank will receive higher corresponding income. According to the statistics of China Business News, by the end of 2020, Liu Jipeng * * * is an independent director of five listed companies, and the other four are Changan Automobile (000625. SZ), Wanrun shares (002643. SZ), Admiralty Gold (600489. SH) and Energy Conservation National Treasure (300388). SZ)。

However, the low salary level of independent directors in the industry does not mean that the allowances received by independent directors are also low, and some manufacturing independent directors are in the forefront. According to public data, three independent directors of Zhuo Lang Smart received a' high independent director allowance' of 855,000 yuan in the company last year, which is also among the top independent directors.

Liu Shuwei, a famous financial scholar, received a considerable allowance for independent directors last year. He is currently an independent director of Vanke A(000002). SZ), Gree Electric (00065 1. SZ), China Optics (002 189. SZ) and Shenzhen Yu Rou Technology Co., Ltd.

In 2020, Liu Shuwei's annual salary as an independent director of Vanke A is 600,000 yuan, as an independent director of Gree Electric is 6,543.8+0.5 million yuan, and as an independent director of China Optics is 6,543.8+0.3 million yuan, totaling 880,000 yuan.

Compared with the above-mentioned "high-paid" independent directors, some independent directors of listed companies are somewhat "shabby", and some independent directors are paid only a few hundred yuan, which is thousands of times different from the highest. Take guangyu development's independent directors Li Shufeng and Zhai Yehu as examples. Last year, the only allowance they got from the company was 300 yuan. Li Shufeng's salary in Tianshan Aluminum Industry is 6,543,800 yuan+500,000 yuan. And *ST's independent director Wang Shangli's salary from the company is only 500 yuan.

There are obvious differences in individual remuneration of independent directors. Recently, there has been a wave of resignation of independent directors in A-share listed companies. 1October 1 12 Within 8 days after the verdict of Kangmei Pharmaceutical was pronounced in the first instance, 24 independent directors of 22 listed companies resigned.

According to the Financial Times, most of the reasons for the resignation of independent directors are "personal reasons". 165438+1On October 23rd, Wanrun announced that Liu Jipeng had applied to resign as an independent director of the fifth board of directors of the company and related positions of special committees under the board of directors for personal reasons.

Liu Jipeng, dean of the Institute of Capital Finance of China University of Political Science and Law, responded in an interview that his resignation was indeed a coincidence, and he would not be a deserter at a critical moment. "As early as May this year, I have already offered to resign as an independent director, and recommended Yamy, a professor at the Business School of China University of Political Science and Law, as an independent director. Wanrun shares have played a good role in demonstrating its product technology research and development, financial performance and mixed ownership reform in China. " Liu Jipeng said, but unfortunately, the company failed to grasp and communicate the departure time well, which led to the failure to stagger this sensitive period.

Behind this wave of "resignation", it reflects the reality that the current A-share independent director system "rights and responsibilities" can not match, and independent directors set up "a mere formality" and "a vase of kung fu".

A number of industry experts said that the A-share independent director system has been running for 20 years. At present, the corporate governance structure needs to be improved urgently, and the legal joint liability at the litigation level is intensified. The independent director system faces the needs and opportunities for reform.

The Economic Daily published a commentary on the 25th, saying that the resignation of independent directors was related to the judgment of Kangmei Pharmaceutical's financial fraud case. According to the court's judgment, the five independent directors involved in the case should bear joint and several liability of 5% to 10% respectively. This ratio may not seem high, but Kangmei Pharmaceutical was awarded a total compensation of 2.459 billion yuan to securities investors. After all, the independent directors are personally liable for 1 100 million yuan. Although the independent directors involved may not have to pay such a huge sum of money if Kangmei Pharmaceutical is successfully reorganized in the future, the judgment still brought a strong shock to the independent directors who are performing their duties.

China's independent director system has experienced 20 years' development. In August, 20001year, with the promulgation of "Guiding Opinions on Establishing Independent Director System in Listed Companies" by China Securities Regulatory Commission, the independent director system officially entered the capital market.

The purpose of introducing independent director system is to prevent controlling shareholders and management from harming the interests of minority shareholders, so that independent directors can play a supervisory and balancing role in corporate governance. In the past 20 years, most independent directors have earnestly performed their duties and played a positive role in improving the governance structure of listed companies in China.

However, the role of independent director system in corporate governance has not been fully exerted. In reality, there are still some independent directors who are "not independent" and "not sensible". Independent directors are employed by listed companies. In China's human society, they often take advantage of others. Some independent directors did not speak independently from the standpoint of minority shareholders, but instead acted as "good gentlemen" and turned a blind eye to some matters that should be voted against.

In addition, due to the low responsibility of independent directors for not performing their duties, independent directors have become the plum job of "taking money without taking responsibility", and many "Mr. Nanguo" have mixed into the team. Some independent directors and controlling shareholders of listed companies even give up their principles because of personal friendship, completely losing their independent supervision role and deviating from the original intention of establishing the independent director system.

With the introduction of the new securities law, the securities special representative litigation system began to operate. The huge compensation judgment in Kangmei Pharmaceutical's financial fraud case taught independent directors a good lesson. Independent directors who fail to perform their duties and cause losses to others shall be jointly and severally liable for compensation.

Independent directors should be "independent" and "knowledgeable" supervisors, not "Mr. Nice guy" and "Mr. Southland". Independent directors should be "independent", that is, maintain independent and objective judgments, be honest and diligent to all shareholders of listed companies, and be free from the influence or interference of major shareholders or actual controllers of listed companies, and earnestly safeguard the interests of shareholders of the company. If independent directors want to "understand", they should use their professional knowledge to perform their due duties. In addition to the general functions and powers of directors of listed companies, independent directors also have special functions and powers, including the right to pre-approve major related party transactions, the right to propose the appointment or dismissal of accounting firms, and the right to propose the convening of an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.

If independent directors can't be "independent" and "understand", can't see the financial fraud of listed companies, and dare not speak for the major shareholders of listed companies, then it should be an inevitable choice to resign to make way for the new securities law.