C&W is again in hot water over rewards for directors.

The Association of British Insurers is opposing the latest "sky’s-the-limit" formula, which rewards Richard Lapthorne, the chairman, with £11 million and takes the lid off the £20 million cap — almost reached now — for John Pluthero and Harris Jones, the joint divisional heads.

It means that they could be handed even more from a bonus pool of £120 million.

All this is predicated on the shares, 199p today, hitting and staying above 228p by 2010.

The ABI opposed the previous scheme last year, but shareholders waved it through because no one believed that the shares would perform as strongly as they have.

How wrong they were.

The key issue now is whether shareholders balk at big numbers, or whether they are willing to back performance in this private equity-style remake.