Nick O’Kane’s final pay $56m lower than previous year

The millionaires factory grabbed headlines last year when Nick O’Kane took home $57m in the 2023 financial year but this year it was a fraction of that sum.

Former Macquarie banker Nick O’Kane.

Former Macquarie money man Nick O’Kane, who pocketed $170m over six years, took home just $1m in his final year at the banking giant while boss Shemara Wikramanayake topped $25m in the 2024 financial year.

Macquarie Group said it was taking a “cautious stance” to the current year after annual earnings, return on equity and earnings per share all slumped by around one third.

The millionaires factory grabbed headlines last year after Mr O’Kane, its former commodities and global markets head, took home $57m in the 2023 financial year.

That meant his pay topped those of JPMorgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, and Citigroup’s Jane Fraser but sunk to just $1m this year due to his exit and decision to join rival commodities house Mercuria.

The move will likely mean Mr O’Kane will be based in Dubai as Mercuria moves to grow its gas and power trading operations in Asia and is likely to face off against Macquarie.

The commodity and global markets unit’s net profit contribution fell 47 per cent to $3.21m after a record previous year due to market conditions.

The bonus windfall came about after the trading boss oversaw a surge in Macquarie’s profits given its dominant trading position in European energy markets that were jammed up as a result of the Ukraine-Russia war.

Ms Wikramanayake takes home $25.3m in the 2024 financial year, down from $32.8m in the previous year as Macquarie’s net profit fell a third to $3.52bn.

Its return on equity also declined to 10.8 per cent from a record previous year which benefited from exceptionally volatile commodity markets and strong asset realisations.

Macquarie Bank chief executive Stuart Green received $5.07m, up from $4.27m while its asset management boss, Ben Way, received $11.3m, down from $16.9m in the previous 12 months as the division’s net profit contribution dropped 48 per cent to $1.21bn.

Banking and financial services head Greg Ward took home $11.1m, slightly up from $10.8m a year earlier as the unit’s profit contribution rose 3 per cent.

Macquarie in February announced that Mr O’Kane would be replaced by three-decade banking veteran and forex specialist Simon Wright, who heads up the financial markets division in the commodities unit.

Macquarie chairman Glenn Stevens said momentum had moderated.

“The volatility in global energy markets that had previously increased customer demand for services and presented trading opportunities gave way to much quieter conditions and hence lower earnings for the commodities and global markets business,” Mr Stevens said.

Macquarie’s commodities and global markets unit rose from humble beginnings in the early 2000s, when Macquarie was only lending to energy and commodities businesses.

Less than two decades later, CGM is now the second-largest physical trader of natural gas in North America, and the unit’s profit contributions to the group topped $16.6bn in the six years since Mr O’Kane joined Macquarie’s executive committee in 2017.

Originally published as Nick O’Kane’s final pay $56m lower than previous year