Former QBE Group CEO Pat Regan, who departed the insurer following a probe into his communications with a female employee, will get a severance payout of $310,000 in lieu of a reduced notice period plus statutory leave entitlements.

He will not receive any grants under the QBE Incentive Schemes for the 2020 Financial Year and all of his unvested conditional rights under the Incentive Schemes will lapse immediately, in accordance with plan rules, QBE says in a brief statement today.

The statement says Mr Regan concluded his tenure yesterday, a week after announcing he was leaving the insurer after the external probe into workplace communications revealed “poor judgment” on his part.

QBE has refused to provide more details about the investigation including what was found in the offending communications.

The $310,000 payout is a drastic cut from Mr Regan’s remuneration with the insurer.

According to QBE’s 2019 annual report, his annual package came up to $US4.43 million ($6.1 million). This was made up of $US1.46 million ($2 million) in base salary, other short term employment benefits, leave accruals and $US2.1 million ($2.9 million) of share-based conditional rights payments.

As CEO, Mr Regan’s remuneration package falls under the executive key management personnel (KMP) category. The annual report says if a KMP executive is terminated involuntarily in relation to poor performance, all unvested incentives are forfeited. The same applies if it is a voluntary termination.