?1m for Royal & Sun chief

Top executives at the Royal & Sun Alliance insurance group failed to earn their bonuses in 2000 for the third year, but chief executive Bob Mendelsohn still managed to earn more than £1m, writes Jill Treanor .

A multimillionaire American, Mr Mendelsohn failed to achieve the performance criteria of the options plan installed at the time of his appointment - which de pends on the relative performance of the company's shares during the period.

Mr Mendelsohn received basic pay of £632,000 and a £413,000 payment - of which £383,000 was described as "expatriate" benefits to cover his relocation from the US. That took his cash pay to £1.04m, up from £976,000 in 1999.

He took the helm after the merger between Sun Al liance and Royal Insurance in 1996. A turbulent share price has meant executives have not been paid cash bonuses since 1997, with the exception of Mr Mendelsohn who two years ago received pay of more than £2m. The company said this was to buy him out of a US performance deal.

US managers are to benefit from a new stock option scheme.