Bendigo and Adelaide Bank board takes six month pay cut
The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank board is taking a 10 per cent pay cut for six months and says more customers who deferred loans have resumed repayments.
Banking
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The board of Australia’s fifth-largest retail bank is taking a pay cut, saying it is sharing the burden of a difficult year, but more customers who deferred their loans due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are getting back on their feet.
Ahead of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, the company released a September quarter trading update, showing more than two-thirds of those customers had resumed payments.
As of mid-October, just shy of 6800 mainly residential and consumer customer accounts remained on deferral, down 69 per cent from the peak on May 31.
The value of the accounts that remain deferred is about $2.5 billion, down from $6.9 billion in June.
Customers will continue to transition away from deferral arrangements in coming weeks as deferral periods expire and measures are in place to allow for a smooth transition and fair outcomes, managing director Marnie Baker says.
She said it was pleasing to see customers get back on their feet.
“We are further encouraged by the Victorian Premier’s announcement to reopen Melbourne’s retail and hospitality industries from tomorrow,” Ms Baker said.
Chair Jacqueline Hey announced at the meeting the board and managing director would take a 10 per cent reduction in board fees, or fixed pay in Ms Baker’s case, for six months from November 1.
“We think this is the right thing to do,” Ms Hey said.
She was questioned by a shareholder unhappy the company deferred its final dividend decision after paying a 31 cents per share interim dividend in March and said the decision had not been taken lightly.
“We do recognise the difficulty the final dividend deferral may have caused to some of our shareholders,” Ms Hey said.
“The board continues to closely evaluate the ongoing challenging and uncertain market conditions and will further review this decision as part of our first half year dividend considerations in February.”
Despite the positive signs, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank said the economic and health outlook remained uncertain, so it would prudently maintain its credit provisioning announced in May.
Originally published as Bendigo and Adelaide Bank board takes six month pay cut