Nedbank hikes CEO’s pay to R35.05m

Cape Town - Nedbank Group [JSE:NED], South Africa's fourth biggest bank which has beaten analysts’ profit expectations for a second year, increased Chief Executive Officer Mike Brown’s pay by 7.7% to R35.05m ($2.9m).

Brown (48) received a guaranteed package of R7.05m, short-term incentives of R15m and long-term share-based awards valued at R13m, according to the Johannesburg-based lender’s annual report published on Tuesday. Brown was paid R32.5m in 2013 and R28.7m the year before that.

Nedbank, which is controlled by Old Mutual [JSE:OML], said on February 23 full-year profit gained 14% to R9.8bn and earnings per share excluding one-time items climbed 13% to R21.27, beating the median estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Brown also oversaw Nedbank’s acquisition in 2014 of a 20% stake in Lome, Togo-based Ecobank Transnational, Africa’s most geographically diverse lender.

“The 2014 increases to guaranteed packages were informed by an extensive role evaluation and multiple remuneration benchmarking exercises,” Nedbank said in the report. “There is also appropriate consideration of calls for restraint in regard to remuneration.”

Nedbank was unchanged at R237.78 a share in early morning trade on the JSE, valuing the lender at about R118bn.