What insurance CEOs take home

The highest paid got R23 million last year.

The best-paid chief executive of the country’s largest insurers is Sanlam Group’s Ian Kirk, who earned a total of R23.014 million in 2017. Discovery CEO Adrian Gore was paid R17.65 million in the year to June 30, former MMI Holdings’ CEO was paid a total of R17.494 million, while Old Mutual Limited (Old Mutual Emerging Markets) chief executive Peter Moyo was paid R15.059 million.

New Liberty Holdings CEO David Munro was paid R8.519 million for the seven months to end-December, since joining from Standard Bank Group. This figure excludes various sign-on bonuses paid to him as these are deferred and require him to stay in the job for at least three years.

This direct – and fair – comparison is possible for the first time following the publication of Old Mutual Limited’s pre-listing statement, in which director remuneration is disclosed.

Some previous comparisons of the sector have included the pay for Old Mutual Plc boss Bruce Hemphill which, given that it is in pounds, is not like-for-like. Old Mutual has not previously disclosed the remuneration of the heads of its various units (with the exception of Nedbank), including previous CEO of Old Mutual Emerging Markets (OMEM) Ralph Mupita. There were better paid executives in 2017 than Kirk, however. Herschel Mayers, CEO of Discovery’s UK business VitalityLife, received a package of R44.326 million, but this includes remuneration in pounds. Another of Discovery’s top brass is the third highest-paid: Neville Koopowitz, the CEO of the insurer’s other UK unit VitalityHealth. His remuneration was paid only in pounds.

Lamprechts, CEO of Sanlam subsidiary Santam, is the second highest-paid at R36.077 million, due to a R19 million payment as part of the assurer’s Out-Performance Plan (OPP). Former Liberty Holdings CEO Thabo Dloti was paid the fourth-highest (R24.975 million), but the bulk of this comprises a R19 million “separation payment” following his resignation in May.

It is worth noting that a number of Discovery executives are better-remunerated than Gore, including Mayers, Koopowitz as well as Discovery Life chief Hylton Kallner who received a total of R17.8 million last year.

The top-paid finance director among the five insurers was Sanlam FD Heinie Werth, who was paid a total of R14.927 million in 2017. Discovery had a change of FD in its 2017 financial year, with Richard Faber stepping down and Deon Viljoen taking the position from May 1. Viljoen was paid a sign-on bonus of R10 million (with a two-year retention). Mary Vilakazi, then FD and deputy CEO of MMI Holdings, was paid R9.473 million in the year to June 30. Vilakazi was tapped by FirstRand to be COO from July 1 2018. She was replaced as FD by Ritso Ketola in January 2018.

CEO of Santam is second with R36 million