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Major bank CEO salaries exposed as Aussies struggle: 'Worth it'

The heads of Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and NAB are all earning more than $2.3 million a year.

Stewart Perrie
·Senior Journalist
·3-min read
Matt Comyn, Shayne Elliot, Ross McEwan and Peter King with Aussie money in the background
The salaries of the heads of Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, NAB and Westpac have been revealed. (Source: Getty)

The salaries of Australia's biggest banks have been revealed at the same time as the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) meeting to decide interest rates. The RBA declared the official cash rate would remain on hold at the 12-year high of 4.35 per cent.

The decision means Aussies who are already struggling with their mortgages will have to hold on for nearly two months until the RBA meets again. It comes as The Daily Telegraph has posted the income for the chiefs of Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and NAB.

The CEOS are all earning more than $2.3 million a year as a base salary, however, some have far more coming in from other streams.

According to News Corp, the chief of Australia's oldest bank is earned $2,474,708 last year.

He's the highest paid out of the big four CEOs and while that amount would make some Aussies salivate with joy, that's not all he was paid in 2023.

Comyn received a $4,690,124 bonus, which comes from at-risk payments, shares and other areas, and also $177,041, which was listed as "other" income.

That takes his total pay for last year to $7,341,873.

The head of ANZ, Shayne Elliot, came in second on the richest big four CEOs, after pulling in $2,474,181 in 2023.

His "other" income was listed as $76,607 and he received an impressive bonus of $3,635,720.

That means his 2023 salary was $6,186,508, which is a 12.7 per cent increase from the year before.

Coming in at number three is the head honcho for NAB, Ross McEwan, and he pocketed a cool $2,383,654 last year.

Interestingly, that was the lowest base salary out of the four CEOs, but it was his other streams of revenue that pushed him into bronze.

He had a little more than $45,000 in "other" income and copped a hefty bonus of $3,746,795.

This took his total yearly income to $6,176,092.

Bringing in the rear we have Peter, the CEO of Westpac, who earned $2,437,773 last year.

In addition to his $3,191,326 bonus, he was listed as having $114,322 in "other" income.

The total for 2023 was $5,743,421, which is a 14.5 per cent jump from the year before.

With many Aussies struggling with the rising cost of living, you can imagine some would be horrified to know how much bank CEOs were pulling in by comparison.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics claims the average Aussie salary is around $98,000 a year.

So these CEOs are earning, on average, more than 64 times the average worker.

But Australian businessman Mark Bouris has defended the high pay for the big four banking chiefs.

"If you look at it on a global scale, Australian banks are some of the most profitable banks per capita of any banks in the world so they are the most highly-rated banks in the world," he explained on 2GB Radio.

"So I guess if these individuals that you've just mentioned aren't working for the banks, and someone from America is going to come and work for our banks [and] they'll be paid the same amount of money... On a global basis, that's what they're worth me."

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