Shareholders in Société Générale vented their anger against chairman Daniel Bouton and the French investment bank's board yesterday by registering significant protest votes against plans to award senior executives shares and stock options.

More than a quarter, or 27%, of investors voted against authorising the bank's board to award free shares as part of compensation packages, while proposals to award stock options and for the board to be able to buy and sell the bank's shares attracted no-votes from about 22%.