(19 November 2012 – Australia) ANZ chief executive Mike Smith is now officially Australia’s highest-paid banker, taking home a package worth nearly A$10 million last year.A further A$3.2 million options package may be approved by shareholders too – to be paid out over three years as certain targets are met.
Smith’s latest remuneration package is slightly down from A$10 million last year as the bank called for austerity among its senior staff, however he took home the equivalent of A$9.7 million in cash shares and deferred bonus payments.
ANZ extended a pay freeze on salaries of the bank’s 900 top earners in August, citing weak conditions in the sector.
Even with the pay freeze, ANZ will ask shareholders to approve a A$500,000 increase in the total remuneration pool paid to the bank’s directors to A$4 million.
The bank’s non-executive directors collectively received A$2.8 million over the past year.