Aviva forced to axe chief executive Andrew Moss's pay rise The company also said it was to review golden handshakes for new executives. In March, the company revealed it had handed its new UK chief executive Trevor Matthews a bonus of £45,000 for just one month of work last year as part of a £4.25m welcome package. Scott Wheway, the chairman of Aviva's remuneration committee, said: "We take the views of our shareholders very seriously ... a number of shareholders have indicated that they would like to see a different approach to the way we compensate senior directors on recruitment and an even closer correlation between our pay packages and shareholder returns." Pensions & Investment Reseach Consultants (Pirc), the influential shareholder group, has already advised its members to vote against Aviva's "excessive" boardroom pay at the company's annual meeting on Thursday. Pirc said investors should reject the group's remuneration report at its annual meeting on May 3 because of the generous packages handed to directors. Mr Moss, who has faced criticism over the insurer's poor share price performance, was paid a basic salary of £960,000 in 2011 as part of a total package of £2.69m. He was scheduled to receive a 4.8pc - or £45,000 - increase this month. The Association of British Insurers has also advised its members to consider voting against the report. Shareholder unrest at Aviva comes in the wake of similar problems at Barclays and RBS in the UK and Citigroup in the US. Shares in Aviva fell 8.6 to 308p. Barrie Cornes, analyst at Panmure, said: "While the company argues that it cannot control factors below the operating line, it is the bottom line that has impacted the share price, which has fallen 29pc since July last year."