Hisco’s last pay shorn of $7.9m
Former ANZ NZ boss David Hisco left behind around A$7.4m ($7.9m) in variable remuneration payments when he departed the bank following an investigation into personal expenses.
Hisco left his A$3m plus a year job in mid-June following allegations he “mis-characterised” certain personal expenses as business expenses.
When his employment ceased he was awarded no “variable remuneration” for
2019 and he forfeited all unvested deferred remuneration, according to the bank’s annual report.
“This provided a clear message ... of the importance of doing the right thing and that this is expected of all our people regardless of seniority,” the report said.
Hisco, who had already been on leave due to ill health, still received A$1.497m in fixed pay and deferred payments in 2019, the report showed.
Antonia Watson, who took over as acting CEO of the New Zealand business, has had her fixed remuneration set at A$800,000 (from June 17, 2019). However, her variable remuneration has been increased to 300 per cent of base salary. Meanwhile, figures from Westpac’s annual report, released alongside its full-year result, show the bank’s New Zealand CEO David McLean’s total remuneration rose A$14,548 to A$2.285m in the year to September 30. Banks on both sides of the Tasman have been under immense pressure after Australia’s Royal Commission into misconduct in banking and financial services turned up a raft of issues.