Johannesburg - Investec increased the compensation of CEO Stephen Koseff by 9.9 percent after earnings and dividends at the owner of a bank and money manager in South Africa and the UK increased.
Koseff earned 4.36 million pounds ($5.79 million or R84 million) in the fiscal year through March, which included base pay of 1.32 million pounds, a deferred bonus of 562 000 pounds, a fixed allowance of 1 million pounds and long-term incentives valued at 1.48 million pounds, according to Investec’s annual report. That compares with a fixed salary of 970 000 pounds last year and a deferred bonus of 2 million pounds in 2015.
Koseff, 64, has been at the helm of Investec for 20 years, making him the longest-serving CEO among South Africa’s major banks. While he is the only one of South Africa’s five biggest bank CEOs to be compensated in pounds, Investec makes more than 60 percent of operating profit in South Africa.
The UK’s Pensions and Investment Research Consultants and the Public Investment Corporation, Africa’s biggest money manager and the company’s largest shareholder, last year described Koseff’s pay as excessive.
“We recognise that remuneration is an area of particular interest to shareholders and that in setting and considering changes to remuneration it is important that we take their views into account,” the compensation committee said in the annual report. “Our overarching remuneration philosophy has remained unchanged from prior years.”
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Earnings before adjustments for goodwill and other non-operating items increased by 6 percent to 360 million pounds, while the company boosted its full-year dividend by 5 percent to 21 pence, Investec said on May 19. Net income increased 3 percent, held back by a drop in the rand against the pound, reducing earnings when converted into the British currency.
The company’s Johannesburg-traded stock has declined 19 percent this year, the most of the country’s five biggest banks. In London, the stock has dropped 3.6 percent reflecting concerns related to the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union.
BLOOMBERG