Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. has fallen in with the burgeoning movement to allow shareholders a non-binding vote on the pay of the company's top executives.

 

The big banks recently pioneered the acceptance of so-called "say on pay" votes on executive compensation at their annual meetings, with the first votes to be held at next year's annual meetings. TMX Group Inc. said soon afterward it would institute a similar regime, followed by Sun Life Financial.

 

"After monitoring recent developments and trends, (Potash Corp.'s) board of directors has opted to hold such a vote in 2010," the world's biggest fertilizer enterprise stated yesterday, after CEO William Doyle received $17 million in total compensation last year.

 

The decision to allow the advisory vote on pay comes ahead of the May 7 annual meeting that was to have voted on a shareholder resolution from Meritas Mutual Funds, a socially conscious investment firm that has helped spearhead campaigns for say-on-pay.

 

"Executive compensation is increasingly a top-of-mind issue and shareholders in many companies have recently expressed their support for `say on pay' resolutions," Potash Corp. chair Dallas Howe said.

 

"Given such sentiment, this is an appropriate and timely action for us to take."

 

CEO Doyle's 2008 package included $1.1 million in base salary along with shares valued at $2.9 million and stock options valued at $6.5 million, plus another $2.1 million in non-equity incentives, $4.2 million further in pension and other deferred compensation, and $258,000 in "all other compensation."