Nick Hipwell
Nick Hipwell is a Partner in DLA Piper, based in London. Prior to this, Nick was a Partner in Deloitte’s Reward practice and led the incentive plans legal team, which was made up of a team of lawyers in London and a wider national team. Before joining Deloitte as a Partner in 2011, Nick spent over ten years at Clifford Chance.
Nick has designed, drafted and implemented incentive plans for both listed and unlisted companies, including many which are private equity owned. Nick has implemented plans for both executives and the wider employee population and these plans have related not only to shares and cash but also to other securities, including debt instruments. Nick has particular experience in the implementation of employee share plans globally and has acts acted for some of the world’s largest companies, including members of the FTSE 30, the Euro Stoxx 50 and the Fortune 500, having advised on the implementation of plans in well over 100 countries. A frequent speaker at industry events, Nick has presented on a variety of incentive plan related topics at conferences across Europe and the US.
Practice Area
Panels
- Consulting Editorial Board
- Contributing Author
1 Contributions by Nick Hipwell
PRACTICE NOTES
Malus and Clawback in UK Executive Remuneration: Regulatory Context, Triggers, Periods, Enforcement, Drafting and Tax
The use of malus and clawback
The concept that performance-based cash or share awards for executives and senior employees can be reduced (malus) or recovered (clawback) when a material adverse event occurs or later comes to light is now widely accepted and embedded in market practice. Although rooted in the financial services industry, malus and clawback are now standard elements of incentive plans operated by companies listed in the equity shares (commercial companies) category in the UK. This development flows directly from the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) 2014 revisions to the UK Corporate Governance Code in response to the global financial crisis, together with the subsequent expectations of the UK’s major institutional shareholders. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) March 2021 consultation on modernising the UK’s audit and corporate governance regime further reinforces that deploying malus and clawback within executive remuneration is a vital mechanism for advancing a company’s overall corporate governance objectives...
Share Incentives
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