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Curious What Big Bankers Earn?

The CEOs of South Africa’s biggest banks are earning eye watering amounts with some pocketing more than R100 million a year.

While the big bosses take home massive bonuses, ordinary employees can sometimes earn less than 1% of what their boss makes.

Banks will explain that the difference in pay is justified based on experience, performance, and global benchmarks.

Curious what SA Banks big bosses earn?

Let’s have a look at the publicly available information.

Capitec

The Boss:
Capitec’s outgoing CEO, Gerrie Fourie, received over R104 million in total pay for the financial year ending February 2025.

His fixed salary and provident fund came to more than R18 million, while performance bonuses and long-term incentives made up the bulk of the package. That’s one of the highest executive payouts in South African banking.

Everyone Else:
According to Capitec, 62% of their employees now earn between R250 000 and R500 000 annually (which has been described as a marked improvement from 2021, when many earned under R180 000).

A top paid employee would have to work over 200 years to match the CEO’s latest package.

Standard Bank

The Boss:
Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala walked away with more than R89 million in total pay in 2024.

His base salary alone was over R10 million, with the rest made up of bonuses, share-based rewards, and retirement contributions. His leadership of Africa’s biggest bank certainly comes with a sizable reward.

Everyone Else:
The lowest-paid employees at Standard Bank now earn around R258 000 per year. While the bank spent R27 billion on wages overall, Tshabalala earned around 300 times the salary of the lowest-level worker.

Nedbank

Nedbank CEO Jason Quinn topped the list with a total awarded package of R106 million in 2024.

His guaranteed salary was R6 million, and the remainder came from performance incentives (some paid in cash, others in shares). This appears to be the highest CEO pay among the big five banks.

Everyone Else:
Nedbank’s lowest-paid full-time employees earned R225 000 in 2024 (set to rise to R240 000 in 2025). That means the bank’s big boss took home more than 440 times the salary of their lowest-paid staff members.

Absa

The Boss:
Absa’s outgoing CEO Charles Russon earned more than R35 million in 2024.

Over R6 million of that was fixed pay, with the rest made up of bonuses, medical and retirement benefits, and incentive shares. While not the highest, his package still places him among South Africa’s top earners.

Everyone Else:
Absa says its lowest-paid staff (like the junior tellers or customer service officers) now earn R250 000 annually. This means Russon earned somewhere over 100 times what a junior Absa employee receives, even before factoring in long-term incentives.

FirstRand / FNB

The Boss:
FNB CEO Harry Kellan and FirstRand CEO Mary Vilakazi each received guaranteed pay of R9.4 million in 2024. That includes their base salary, retirement benefits, and allowances. Both were relatively new in their roles, with long-term incentives not yet fully reflected in the package. So, it is hard to say exactly what their total earnings are or will be.

Everyone Else:
FirstRand’s lowest salaries are currently R215 000 per year for banking roles, and R185 000 for non-banking roles.

The Bank has around 40 000 South African employees. Interestingly, this means that the lowest-paid worker would have to work a bit more than 40 years to match one year of the CEO’s salary.

Big Responsibilities Big Salaries

Bank CEOs carry massive responsibilities and their decisions can have ramifications that can make or break these massive institutions. And with big responsibilities come big salaries that are designed to acquire and keep talent.

Still, it is interesting to see that South Africa’s banking bosses earn hundreds of times more than their junior staff. Whether this is fair or not depends on your point of view. 

The figures sure are interesting to think about. So, if you were wondering where your bank fees go. Now you know.

 

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