Six top bank CEOs take home Sh868 million annual pay

Some of the top-earning bank CEOs. [File, Standard]

The chief executives of Kenya’s top six banks took home annual gross pay of Sh807 million last year as the banks recorded higher profits.

The bosses of Kenya’s tier-one lenders Equity, KCB Group, NCBA, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB), Standard Chartered Kenya (Stacnchart), and Absa smiled all the way to their banks on the back of bonuses and attractive compensation packages.

Kenyan corporates have been pulling out all the stops to keep their top managers happy and to woo and retain them.

CEOs enjoy packages including luxury holidays, wardrobe allowances, car and personal drivers, bodyguards, private club membership, housing, entertainment allowance, and elite school fees benefits.

In the above list of the top six banks which have so far made disclosures, the KCB Group chief executive Paul Russo was one of the top earners taking home an annual gross pay of Sh217.4 million.

Mr Russo who took the reins of KCB on May 25 last year earned an annual salary of Sh72.7 million, bonus in cash and deferred of Sh99.3 million and Sh24.8 million respectively and allowances and gratuity of Sh5.8 million and non-cash benefits of Sh2 million.

Equity Group chief executive James Mwangi took home annual compensation of Sh213.6 million. This included an annual salary of Sh106 million or Sh8.8 million per month, a bonus of Sh53 million, a gratuity of Sh31.8 million and leave pay of Sh8.3 million.

He also earned Sh5.1 million in estimated value of non-cash benefits.

NCBA chief executive John Gachora took home a total of Sh147.7 million last year. This comprised of a salary of Sh89.6 million or Sh7.4 million per month, a cash incentive remuneration of Sh40 million and a retirement benefit of Sh9.8 million.

Stanchart chief executive Kariuki Ngare took home annual compensation of Sh124.4 million.

This comprised basic pay of Sh47 million or Sh3.9 million a month, a bonus of Sh39.8 million, deferred cash awards of Sh13.2 million, non-cash benefits of Sh4 million and a pension of Sh6.4 million.

DTB chief executive Nasim Devji took home gross pay of Sh61.1 million while former Absa boss Jeremy Awori who resigned in October to take up a group chief executive role at Ecobank earned Sh106.7 million.

KCB Group says in its compensation policy that its "competitive employee value proposition" has led to low staff attrition. 

“We purposefully endeavour to maintain fairness and equity in employee remuneration and motivate high levels of employee performance in an affordable and sustainable manner,"  says KCB Group on its compensation policy.

"The Group regularly participates in remuneration benchmarks to ensure it remains competitive in the market within which we operate."