TENS of millions of pounds in bonuses were paid to high-fliers at one of Southampton's leading financial companies, it emerged today.

Details of the payments over six years at Skandia Life have just come to light.

The financial services group, which employs 1,500 people at its UK headquarters in Southampton, today defended the money bonanza.

Spokesman Jo Gilbey stressed: "These are not payments for failure - and we have not hidden anything."

More than £72.4m was paid to 82 employees in Southampton from 1997 to 2002 as part of an incentive programme, according to figures made public following shareholder pressure.

It is believed that some staff earned millions of pounds, while others made hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The lucrative payments came on top of bonuses from group schemes introduced by Swedish parent company Skandia.

As previously reported by the Daily Echo, Alan Wilson, the Southampton-based boss of the UK arm, earned £8.7m in bonuses for overseeing runaway growth.

Skandia staff shared in a £72m payout

Thanks to his "Midas" touch, assets under management shot up from £1 billion to the current £15.8bn.

Mr Wilson, who draws a £400,000 annual salary, is widely acknowledged as being the driving force behind the Skandia Life success story.

The company, which sponsors the world-famous Cowes Week sailing regatta on the Solent, is worth at least £900m, having started from nothing, said Ms Gilbey.

Skandia Life has carved out an international reputation for its investment funds, life insurance and pensions.

But it unwittingly became caught up in the fall-out from a financial scandal that engulfed its parent company in Stockholm late last year.

A damning investigation into corporate activities in Sweden poured light on an alleged culture of dishonesty, financial impropriety and grace-and-favour flats, with criticism heaped on bonuses totalling £125m.

Although the UK wing did not come under fire, shareholders this month pressed for more transparency over incentive programmes in the UK.

Stockholm admitted the UK scheme cost an extra £72.4m between 1997 and 2002.

These bonus sums had not originally been aired because it could "violate local UK data protection laws", but details were released after shareholder demands.

Ms Gilbey went on the offensive over the scale of bonuses, saying that Skandia Life in Southampton had to compete with London in terms of attracting and retaining the best people.

In the past the company has lavished luxury treats on its staff, ranging from Christmas hamper gifts to laying on a dinner at The Park Lane Hilton Hotel in London.

This year everyone has been given an extra day's holiday to mark its silver jubilee - and a Mini car is the star prize in a workers' raffle.