CBA boss gets pay rise amid credit crunch

The boss of the country's biggest bank has seen his base salary more than double - and his overall cash, shares and bonus package jump by $2million, or 30%, to $8.66 million.

That figure includes a $500,000 increase in his cash bonus, to $1.9 million, after Commonwealth recorded a net profit of $4.73 billion this year.

Add to that a $1.65 million increase on his base pay, which makes up just over a third of his total remuneration.

Norris collected a base salary of $3.12 million - similar to his peers at ANZ, National Australia Bank and Westpac.

Not bad for the bosses of banks that have been quick to pass on the pain from the global credit crunch to retail clients - by lifting rates out of step with the Reserve Bank.

Norris has just begun his fourth year in charge of the Commonwealth and in January will become the longest-serving CEO of any of the Big Four banks, but his pay has been slipping relative to his rivals. Norris' 2008 remuneration deal is still $200,000 less than the amount NAB paid to John Stewart last year.

Stewart's replacement, Cameron Clyne, has a deal worth a minimum of $7.5 million when he takes over on January 1, rising to $8.75 million in his first year, depending on NAB's performance.

Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly will earn $8.5 million, while ANZ boss Mike Smith negotiated a deal worth as much as $9 million when he started last October.

Up to 70% of Norris' remuneration is performance-based. He picked up the equivalent of $950,000 in a short-term reward of Commonwealth shares and $2.5 million from the award of a longer-term parcel of equity and performance rights.

Read between the lines

REPORTING season is grinding to an end, but billionaire Kerr Neilson has once again enlivened the chore of reading through a stack of annual reports.

Shareholders in Neilson's global stock picker, Platinum Capital, received their 2008 report, which was titled Tyranny of Tradition. The first 35 pages of the 109-page document have been used to reprint two articles from Foreign Affairs that examine the changes in the political systems of China and Russia.

The first is titled Long Time Coming - The Prospects for Democracy in China, and the second The Myth of the Authoritarian Model - How Putin's Crackdown Holds Russia Back.

It's interesting reading, and a copy of the annual report can be found on the ASX website, but the market was hardly impressed - shares fell 4.44% to $1.29 yesterday on its release.

Maybe that had something to do with the first line encountered after all that stimulating content: "In the year ending on June 30, 2008, Platinum Capital's net asset value decreased by 17.2% pre-tax and 13.8% after allowing for all tax liabilities."

Forget the words, for some it's all about the numbers.

Spring into auction

FORGET the consumer confidence surveys and misguided missives from lobby groups calling for interest rate cuts/hikes/halts, depending on who their paymaster is.

The real barometer of how well the economy is doing - Melbourne's spring party season - is upon us and by all accounts, life isn't as bad as reported for corporate Australia.

The annual Chairman's Lunch, hosted by Women@The Alfred at Crown Casino, raised an estimated $570,000 last week - $60,000 more than is needed to fund a new prostate cancer centre at the hospital.

Melbourne's captains of industry spent big at the silent auction - from a Mercedes-Benz car to several overseas holidays - to raise $350,000.

Lunchtime discussion was dominated by confirmation of the Reserve Bank's quarter-point cut to interest rates, which sent a welcoming buzz around the Palladium.

Meanwhile, the launch of the Victoria Racing Club's Spring Fashion Lunch was packed to the rafters, as the great and the good checked out the styles for this year's festival of the hoof at Flemington.

And, instead of a more sober mood befitting these tough economic times, Saab announces that it will be erecting a three-level marquee for this year's Melbourne Cup carnival - the tallest ever built in The Birdcage at Flemington.

Lucky UQ

SHARING some of the wealth is Wotif.com Holdings director and co-founder Andrew Brice, who has handed over 1 million shares to the University of Queensland (UQ).

Back in February, Brice and fellow UQ alumnus Graeme Wood pledged an estimated $18 million to the UQ Endowment Fund. Wood and Brice, co-founders of accommodation website Wotif.com, committed $8 million worth of Wotif.com shares between them to the fund.

Brice chipped in with 2 million more shares over the next two years and has made good on the first instalment. Wood pledged an extra $2 million over the next five years.

It has been a good news month for UQ - Wotif has announced a 31% increase in net profit, to $34.5 million. Total revenue was $94 million, up 40% on last year.