Standard Bank profits leads to hefty pay rises for its CEO's

Standard Bank - 4Q15 ZAR 21.37bn($1.5bn), up 34% YoY, leading to a 43% pay rise for the bank's joint CEO's Sim Tshabalala and Ben Kruger.

Johannesburg - The combined compensation for Standard Bank Group’s [JSE:SBK] joint Chief Executive Officers Sim Tshabalala and Ben Kruger rose 43% after full-year profit climbed by a third.

Kruger’s total pay was R30.79m, including incentive awards amounting to R22m, giving the CEO an increase of 61% from a year earlier, according to the bank’s annual report published on Monday.

Tshabalala’s total pay was R30.99m, including annual incentives of R22m, giving him an increase of 28%.

After reducing the CEOs’ pay in 2014 following losses at the bank’s London unit, remuneration “has been normalized,” Ted Woods, chairperson of the remuneration committee, said in the annual report.

The two CEOs “met most expectations fully in 2015,” he said. “Failures were limited in scope,” Woods said, without giving details.

Africa’s largest lender by assets said on March 3 normalized net income for the year ended December climbed 34% to R21.37bn. Earnings per share excluding one-time items increased 27% and beat analysts’ estimates, while the dividend rose 13% to R6.74.

Tshabalala and Kruger were each paid more than Barclays Africa Group EO Maria Ramos, who received R28.2m last year. The heads of FirstRand, Investec and Nedbank Group were all paid more than the dual CEOs during their latest fiscal years. When the compensation is combined, Standard Bank paid its CEOs more than any other South African lender, except for Investec.