Latest news with #GlennStevens
AU Financial Review
6 days ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
No one at Macquarie Group is having fun any more
The risk of reacting to something you dismiss as 'silly' is that you end up looking like it. Macquarie chairman Glenn Stevens waded into the drama of the company's prized $75 million a year audit contract at Thursday's eventful AGM, addressing the conflicts around the board's chair of audit Michelle Hinchliffe. Stevens described the stories about Hinchliffe's deep ties to KPMG (one of those bidding for the contract) as 'silly talk' because she was a 'highly credentialed' former partner of the consulting firm. Parking that this column repeatedly described her as exactly that, we won't be offended because of what came next.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Macquarie's famed pay packages under attack from disgruntled shareholders at AGM
Macquarie Group has been stung by a shareholder backlash against its executive pay plans amid disquiet over a string of regulatory prosecutions. Investors lodged votes against Macquarie's remuneration plans in excess of 25%, in a major rebuke of the company's famed pay packages, triggering a 'first strike' at its annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday. A remuneration report requires a 25% opposing vote to trigger a strike, as opposed to the usual majority required for ordinary resolutions. Under rules designed to hold directors accountable for executive pay, shareholders will get a chance to spill the board next year if they deliver another strike. The Macquarie chair, Glenn Stevens, said at the AGM that a number of shareholders had expressed a view that the board had not adequately reflected 'risk shortcomings'. 'The board hears your message and will reflect carefully on addressing those concerns,' Stevens said. Sign up: AU Breaking News email In May, the chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Joe Longo, issued a stinging critique of Macquarie after announcing the fourth regulatory action against the company in just over 12 months. Longo said at the time Asic had 'ongoing and deep concerns' with Macquarie over its 'weak remediation of longstanding issues'. Asic alleged in May that Macquarie's securities business engaged in misleading conduct by misreporting millions of short sales to the market operator for more than 14 years. Short sales refer to investors taking a position on an asset they expect to fall in value. Macquarie said it had remedied those issues, implemented additional controls and was reviewing the regulator's claim. The company could not comment further on Thursday given it is a live legal matter. Macquarie is well-known for its huge pay packets, which are tightly linked to company profits. The Macquarie chief executive, Shemara Wikramanayake, earned $24m during the last 12-month reporting period, mostly consisting of bonuses, making her one of Australia's highest paid executives. While shareholders usually lodge a protest vote against executive pay when a company is performing poorly, there are times investors use it to tell the board they are unhappy about other issues. Woolworths received a remuneration strike in 2023 after shareholders over concerns with the supermarket's response to the death of two workers, one of whom was killed after being hit by pallets at a distribution centre. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Macquarie also faced a climate-focused shareholder resolution calling on the company to outline how its financing for fossil fuel projects aligned with its net zero commitments. The resolution, which did not receive majority support, asked the bank to disclose its exposure to fossil fuel companies and its plans for financing them. Activists are particularly unhappy with Macquarie's support for the planned large gas fracking project in the Northern Territory's Beetaloo basin. 'The reality is that Macquarie's fossil fuel financing activity is categorically not aligned with its climate commitments,' Kyle Robertson, an analyst at the climate activist group Market Forces, told the AGM. While many financiers have climate policies, they often allow for the development of new fossil fuel reserves, rubbing against analysis showing emissions from existing fossil fuel infrastructure are more than enough to push the world beyond its climate goals. Stevens said the company's position was in line with the policies of the federal government, which allows for the expansion of gas production during the transition to renewable energy. 'That is part of the transition; Macquarie is involved in that,' Stevens said.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Macquarie shareholders challenge executive pay as regulatory, earnings stress mount
SYDNEY, July 24 (Reuters) - Macquarie Group ( opens new tab, employer of Australia's best-paid CEO, said on Thursday it will review its executive compensation following a regulatory compliance lawsuit as shareholders appeared to vote against its salary plans for the first time at its annual meeting. The investment bank also announced that its chief financial officer was retiring, a surprise development which takes out one possible successor to current leader Shemara Wikramanayake who started in 2018, and reported a dip in first-quarter profit, pushing its shares lower. The rethink of its top-level pay reflects an unusual degree of investor pushback against a company nicknamed the millionaire factory due to its compensation as heightened regulatory scrutiny and weaker earnings at some of its global businesses stoke disquiet among shareholders. Cooling M&A activity and relatively subdued oil and gas markets have squeezed profit at two of its four main operating units. Adding to the pressure on the investment bank, the Australian corporate regulator sued Macquarie in May accusing it of misreporting up to 1.5 billion short sales. Macquarie has said it picked up and reported the mistakes and is reviewing ASIC's claim. "It was always likely that there were going to be some observers who were going to say 'you should have gone more one way or the other'," Macquarie Chair Glenn Stevens told media before the annual meeting in Sydney. "I find it a little bit disappointing how many feel that, but it is what it is and we have to hear that message," Stevens, who was Reserve Bank of Australia governor from 2006 to 2016, said. At the meeting, Stevens told shareholders the "remuneration impacts ... will be an FY26 matter, about which the board will come to a view over the period ahead". CEO Shemara Wikramanayake earned A$30 million in 2024, making her the highest paid chief executive among ASX 100 companies and the only woman in Australia's top 20 highest paid executives, according, opens new tab to the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors. Proxy advisors to Macquarie shareholders recommended voting about 25% against the company's remuneration report, according to slides presented at the meeting, although Stevens said the company would publish a final result later. If more than 25% of shareholders vote against an Australian company's remuneration report for two years running, shareholders can hold another vote on whether to dismiss the entire board. Macquarie shares were nearly 5% lower by midsession, compared with a flat overall market (.AXJO), opens new tab, as investors fretted about the multiple headwinds facing the company. Macquarie said profit in the three months to June was lower than a year earlier due to lower contributions from its asset management arm and commodities and global markets unit. The company did not disclose specific profit figures in the limited trading update. "We see (Macquarie) as a great business caught in the midst of both its own transition and global realignment of geopolitical alliances and capital flows," said Jarden analysts in a client note. CFO Alex Harvey, asked by media to elaborate on his departure, said only that he had achieved what he set out to do and it was time to promote his deputy Frank Kwok. CEO Wikramanayake, asked about her future in the role, said: "I'm committed to Macquarie for as long as Macquarie needs me."
Sydney Morning Herald
7 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Macquarie CEO pay riles investors as long-standing finance chief exits
Macquarie Group chairman Glenn Stevens has conceded that some of the bank's shareholders are not satisfied with the board's decisions on executive pay, amid debate over how the Sydney-based investment giant has responded to alleged compliance failings. In a quarterly update published on Thursday, ahead of its annual meeting, Stevens and Macquarie chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake also announced that company chief financial officer Alex Harvey was stepping down after a 28-year career at Macquarie. The company also said that its profits were down in its first quarter. But investors have been more interested in Macquarie's executive pay and its record on compliance, which has been in the spotlight after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched legal action against the bank in May, alleging 'repeated and systemic' misleading conduct over a failure to report short sales. Macquarie shares slumped 4.4 per cent in early trade. It was the watchdog's fourth regulatory action against Macquarie in just over a year. Earlier, in May, ASIC also slapped additional licence conditions on Macquarie Bank, citing several compliance failures relating to futures dealing and over-the-counter derivatives. Stevens said on Thursday that the ASIC matter on short-selling was before the courts so he was limited in what he could say, but that any remuneration effects from the case would be reflected in the coming financial year. He also vowed to take on the concerns of shareholders, while conceding that a 'significant minority' felt the board should have done more on executive pay. 'I also acknowledge that, while Macquarie's remuneration system is strongly supported by shareholders, a number of shareholders have the view that the board has not adequately reflected risk shortcomings in our FY25 decisions,' Stevens said. 'The board hears your message and will reflect carefully on addressing those concerns.' Macquarie's remuneration report, published earlier this year, said it had taken into account 'risk and regulatory matters', particularly ASIC's licence conditions, and this had been reflected in the profit share awarded to Wikramanayake and the chief of Macquarie Bank Limited, Stuart Green.
The Age
7 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Macquarie CEO pay riles investors as long-standing finance chief exits
Macquarie Group chairman Glenn Stevens has conceded that some of the bank's shareholders are not satisfied with the board's decisions on executive pay, amid debate over how the Sydney-based investment giant has responded to alleged compliance failings. In a quarterly update published on Thursday, ahead of its annual meeting, Stevens and Macquarie chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake also announced that company chief financial officer Alex Harvey was stepping down after a 28-year career at Macquarie. The company also said that its profits were down in its first quarter. But investors have been more interested in Macquarie's executive pay and its record on compliance, which has been in the spotlight after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched legal action against the bank in May, alleging 'repeated and systemic' misleading conduct over a failure to report short sales. Macquarie shares slumped 4.4 per cent in early trade. It was the watchdog's fourth regulatory action against Macquarie in just over a year. Earlier, in May, ASIC also slapped additional licence conditions on Macquarie Bank, citing several compliance failures relating to futures dealing and over-the-counter derivatives. Stevens said on Thursday that the ASIC matter on short-selling was before the courts so he was limited in what he could say, but that any remuneration effects from the case would be reflected in the coming financial year. He also vowed to take on the concerns of shareholders, while conceding that a 'significant minority' felt the board should have done more on executive pay. 'I also acknowledge that, while Macquarie's remuneration system is strongly supported by shareholders, a number of shareholders have the view that the board has not adequately reflected risk shortcomings in our FY25 decisions,' Stevens said. 'The board hears your message and will reflect carefully on addressing those concerns.' Macquarie's remuneration report, published earlier this year, said it had taken into account 'risk and regulatory matters', particularly ASIC's licence conditions, and this had been reflected in the profit share awarded to Wikramanayake and the chief of Macquarie Bank Limited, Stuart Green.
