Koseff’s salary, bonus increase by 23%

STEPHEN Koseff, the chief executive of Investec, received £2.97 million (R60m) in salary and bonus for the fiscal year to March, a 23 percent increase from a year earlier. Koseff received £970 000 in salary and a deferred bonus of £2m in shares to be paid over three years, the London- and Johannesburg-based financial services group said in its annual report on Tuesday. He was paid £2.4m in salary and bonus in the previous year. Koseff also received a new £1m fixed allowance this year, also paid in shares that start to vest after four years, bringing his total compensation for the year to £3.97m, according to the annual report. The fixed allowance was awarded because of the change in UK compensation rules and was paid instead of shares as in the previous year, spokeswoman Ursula Nobrega said yesterday. Investec, which owns a bank and money manager, said on May 21 net income for the 12 months to March rose 10 percent to £410m from £372m a year earlier. The increase in Koseff’s performance bonus was “largely a result of the improvement in return on risk-weighted assets, return on equity and the Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio”, Investec said. The return on risk-weighted assets was 1.25 percent, the return on equity was 10.6 percent and the Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio was 11.6 percent in the period, according to the annual report. Investec was among 11 firms being investigated for alleged rigging foreign-currency markets, South Africa’s Competition Commission said on May 19.