SA’s top banks recently revealed the amounts spent on salaries for their CEOs and staff members.
Chief executive officers (CEOs) of many large corporates earn millions of rands due to their immense responsibility for a company’s success or failure. At the same time, they possess specialised skills and experience.
This is no different at commercial banks in South Africa, where every employee is paid according to their responsibilities, skills, and experience.
The Companies Amendment Act, signed into law in July 2024, requires public and state-owned companies to disclose how much the executives, directors and ordinary employees get paid.
In line with the Act, banks, including Standard Bank, Absa, FirstRand, and Nedbank, disclosed in their financial results for the six months ending 31 December 2024 how much they spent on CEOs’ and staff’s salaries during that period.
Standard Bank CEO got R89 million
Standard Bank released its financial results on Thursday, showing the bank recorded headline earnings of R45 billion.
The man responsible for that growth is Sim Tshabalala, who, as CEO of the bank walked away with over R89 million in remuneration.
Out of the R89 million, his annual salary cost then bank more than R10 million.
The remaining amount was shared between employer retirement contributions, benefits and allowances, cash incentives, deferred incentives, the Performance Reward Plan (PRP), and the Nominal dividend on PRP award vesting.
According to the results, the bank spent R27 billion on staff salaries and wages. On top of that, they have spent R1.5 billion on pension and other post-employment benefit costs.
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Absa CEO walked away with R35 million
Absa released its financial results on Tuesday, showing that the bank’s profit increased by 10.37% to R24.90 billion during the period.
This is after years of leadership instability, which saw six interim and permanent CEOs since 2019.
The man currently leading the ship is Charles Russon as CEO. The results show he received total remuneration of R35 472 245 in 2024.
From that amount, R6 456 843 was for his salary, R245 940 went to medical aid, retirement benefits cost R196 856, and other employee benefits for R72 606.
The rest of the remuneration includes a cash award of R7 250 000 and a deferred share award of R6 250 000. He received R13 500 000 for total short-term incentives, while the face value of the long-term incentive award (on-target award) was R15 000 000.
Absa’s staff costs for 2024 were R33 billion. Staff salaries were R26 billion, bonuses cost R3 billion, and training costs R524 million.
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FirstRand CEO gets R8.9 million
FirstRand, parent company to First National Bank (FNB), Wesbank and RMB (Rand Merchant Bank), amongst others.
The group’s financial results for the six months ending 31 December 2024 do not include the amount spent on executive and director salaries, but they show the amount spent on staff.
It seems the group includes remuneration in results released after June.
For six months ending 31 December 2024, the group’s profit increased by 10% to R22.53 billion.
FNB grew its customer base to 12.15 million, with significant growth in digital transactions.
During this period staff expenditure was R22 billion, with direct staff expenditure (salaries) being R17 billion.
According to the remuneration report for the year ended 30 June 2024, FirstRand CEO, Mary Vilakazi, who stepped on 1 April 2024, received R9.4 million as total guaranteed remuneration.
This included cash package of R8.9 million, retirement contributions of R187 000, and other allowances of R242 000.
While FNB’s CEO, Harry Kellan received guaranteed remuneration of R9.4 million. This included cash package of R9 million, retirement contributions of R74 000, and other allowances of R266 000.
The remuneration report included that the group spent R48.7 million for the staff assistance trust.
5 780 employees were assisted with their children’s school expenses (tuition fees and stationery) for the 2024 school cycle.
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Nedbank CEO gets R106 million
Nedbank’s headline earnings increased by 8% to R16.9 billion, while diluted headline earnings per share increased by 11%.
Jason Quinn, Nedbank CEO, received a total awarded remuneration of R106 million, and his guaranteed salary was R6 million.
The guaranteed remuneration includes the cash portion of the package, other benefits and a defined-contribution retirement fund.
The rest of the money is divided between two cash performance incentives: one to be delivered in cash and the other to be delivered in shares.
Total staff received more than R22 billion in 2024.
The lowest-paid full-time permanent employees earned R225 000 a year (R18,750 a month) in 2024, but the bank said this would increase to R240 000 (R20,000 a month) in 2025.
How salaries of executives and CEO are set
Different factors determine how a CEO’s remuneration is set. These include company performance, industry standards, market conditions, the CEO’s experience and company size.
The board of directors is one of the stakeholders involved in setting the CEO’s remuneration, which often includes a basic salary, annual bonus, short-term and long-term incentives and benefits.
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