Top duo bank big bucks

MACQUARIE Group has awarded pay of more than $20m each to two executives, including its chief, Shemara Wikramanayake.

The reward came on the back of Macquarie reporting a record $3.02bn profit for the year ended March 31, up from $2.73bn in 2020.

But for the year ended March 31, Ms Wikramanayake (pictured) was not the highest paid banker at Macquarie; that was head of commodities and global markets Nick O’Kane.

Macquarie’s result was buoyed by a surge in income from the commodities and markets unit and was the first time the asset management and investment banking giant’s profit had broken through the $3bn mark.

Macquarie was dubbed the Millionaires’ Factory before the global financial crisis as its bankers benefited from huge pay packets while the group worked on large deals and expanded across the globe.

Ms Wikramanayake’s awarded pay was $20.7m for 2021, up from $18.1m last year when COVID-19 resulted in Macquarie pulling back from paying the cash component of short-term bonuses. About $15.9m of the 2021 pay reflected retained profit share.

Awarded pay reflects what was allocated to a Macquarie executive in salary, bonus and shares for the 2021 year.

Mr O’Kane’s awarded pay rose to $26.3m for 2021 from $19.5m in the previous year.

He joined Macquarie in 1995, and took the reins as head of the commodities and global markets division two years ago.

The division was the biggest contributor to Macquarie’s record annual profit.

The unit had a net profit contribution of $2.6bn in 2021, up 50 per cent from the previous year.

The next-highest paid executive on 2021 awarded pay was the outgoing head of Macquarie’s asset management arm, Martin Stanley, who took home $19.6m for 2021, versus $18.9m the previous year.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority had urged banks in light of the COVID-19 crisis to last year consider deferring dividend decisions and to “appropriately limit executive cash bonuses”.

Macquarie responded by ceasing the cash part of shortterm bonuses for the year and holding the amounts in shares, but that has been unwound.

In the statutory pay stakes, Ms Wikramanayake’s 2021 pay was almost $16m, up from $14.9m.

Mr O’Kane’s pay in the statutory report was $24.8m — up from $13.9m in 2020.

Macquarie has faced scathing criticism for its lucrative pay packets over the past 15 years but the firm has argued the structure is highly linked to performance.

Former chief executive Nicholas Moore’s pay peaked at $32.9m in 2007 ahead of the GFC. Macquarie shares fell 55c to $158.45 on Friday.