Massimo’s massive payout to leave LSE

Massimo Capuano, who quit as the London Stock Exchange's deputy chief executive at the end of March, left with the kind of pay-off which would not disgrace a European football manager sacked by a Premier League club.

Capuano, who headed the Italian stock exchange when it was taken over by the LSE in 2007, left clutching cheques totalling £4.2 million including his final year's salary of £1.27 million. His payments include an extraordinary 1.07 million (£889,000) for "trattamento di fine rapporto" — an Italian contract indemnifying employees from any liability the Italian taxman might charge on the UK earnings.

He also got 2 million, equivalent to 15 months' salary and bonus as a payout, three years of life and health insurance premiums worth 175,000 and 221,000 for 48 days of holiday not taken. An LSE spokesman pointed out that Capuano's payout could have been "significantly higher" if his Italian employment contract had not been extensively renegotiated after the takeover.

The LSE's new chief executive, Xavier Rolet, collected almost 50% more than his predecessor Dame Clara Furse for his first year in charge. His package was worth £1.7 million made up of £670,000 salary, which has been frozen for this year, and a bonus of just above £1 million. Furse was paid £560,000 and earned a bonus of £648,000 in her final full year at the helm.