MacBank profit dives, CEO pay slashed by $26M UPDATE: Scott Murdoch | May 01, 2009 Article from: THE AUSTRALIAN MACQUARIE Group today posted its largest ever drop in full-year profit, as the global financial crisis tore chief executive Nicholas Moore's salary to shreds. The pay-packets of Macquarie's senior executives have fallen dramatically, in line with the bank's flagging share price and 52 per cent decline in net profit. Macquarie Group booked an after-tax profit of $871 million, down from $1.8 million, and the first fall in net profit since the last recession 17 years ago. The result was slightly below the market's expectation and previous guidance of $900 million. The major surprise, however, was the salary hit for Macquarie's top bankers.. The bank earned the colloquial nickname of the “Millionaire's Factory” for its mega wages paid during the bull run, when Mr Moore and former boss Alan Moss earned $30 million a year. However, in 2008, Mr Moore saw his total remuneration fall from $26.7 million to just $290,756 - a decrease by a factor of almost 100. Macquarie's total wage bill for its executive team decreased from $124.7 million to $11.36 million. The hit to Mr Moore's salary was greatest in his short-term cash bonus, which fell from $18.72 million to $2.12 million while he made a loss of $5.84 million on parts of his previous bonuses, which were invested in Macquarie shares for 10 years. The bank's deputy chief executive Richard Sheppard recorded a $678,514 loss in salary for the year, which was driven by the loss in value of shares invested in Macquarie. The highest paid Macquarie executive was Andrew Downe, who earned $3.7 million, based on the performance of his treasuries and commodities division. The stark drop in net profit came as Macquarie prepared to carry out a capital raising this afternoon to shore up its balance sheet, or prepare for a major acquisition. The investment bank was expected to raise up to $1.2 billion from institutional and retail investors in Australia and overseas. The bank now has $10.2 billion worth of capital on its balance sheet, which it said was $3.1 billion more than the minimum capital requirements. Mr Moore said that, despite the world markets showing signs of easing, it was still too early to call a recovery. “The markets are still challenging, we are still not at normal levels,” Mr Moore said. “We are making a call that there is a fundamental shift in sentiment. Things have improved and the pipelines are looking better across the business,” he said. “We have experienced over 18 months very volatile markets and we are not calling the end to that volatility." http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25413043-643,00..html
