Move aside Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens. There is another public servant who punches even further beyond his weight when compared with his international peers.
Stevens's $1.08 million pay package now appears relatively modest compared with the $2.89 million the Australia Post chief executive, Ahmed Fahour, collected in the year to June 30.
Fahour's package included $1.39 million in base pay, $874,200 in short-term bonuses, $192,622 in superannuation and $242,833 in deferred bonus payments.
The extra cherry on top towards the end of the financial year was the pay rise Fahour was awarded on June 22, which saw his fixed remuneration jump 21 per cent to $1.9 million.
Stevens may get paid about four times more than the US Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, but Fahour gets more than 10 times his US equivalent.
The US postmaster general, Patrick Donahoe, is paid $US276,000 a year . The US Postal Service handles about 170 billion items of mail each year compared with Australia Post's 5.5 billion.
GERMANY LEADS
The only postal employee who appears to get paid more than Fahour is the chief executive of the privatised Deutsche Post, Frank Appel, who took home ?2.96 million ($4 million) in 2010.
The Bonn-headquartered Deutsche Post, which owns the global logistics giant DHL, posted a ?2.63 billion net profit last year, compared with the $241.2 million full year net profit Australia Post announced on Wednesday.
The chief executive of Britain's Royal Mail, Moya Greene, was paid #777,611 ($1.19 million) in base pay and bonuses last financial year.
The head of Canada Post, Deepak Chopra, (not to be confused with the public speaker on spiritual issues) gets about $500,000 a year.
The head of the privatised Dutch postal service, Harry Koorstra, was paid ?1.49 million last year.
ROCK MY WORLD
It seems the Reserve Bank reckons the term concocted by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to describe unforeseen and freakish events is not the best concept on which to test financial stability.
"You can't imagine scenarios that are by definition unimaginable," the RBA's head of financial stability, Luci Ellis, said about the term Black Swan.
Ellis suggested that rather than looking for the "unimaginable black swan", financial market watchers could observe "attitudes and behaviours" that could distort markets and lead to further crises.
At least Ellis picked a far more freakish (to European eyes) Australian creature than a black swan to describe her new test.
"You see, when Europeans first saw a black swan, it would have been a surprise, but I doubt it rocked their world," she told yesterday's annual conference at the University of Technology, Sydney's Paul Woolley centre for capital market dysfunctionality.
"There are plenty of other cases where the same species of animal is a different colour in different regions. But the platypus is strange. It is a mammal, but it has a duck's bill it is the only mammal with venomous spurs it lays eggs and it is a monotreme.
"When European scientists first saw the stuffed body of a platypus, they found it so bizarre that they thought it was a fake."
Ellis said it was behaviour that appeared "too ridiculous to be true, and yet it is true" that policymakers needed to be alert to.
"When you have that feeling, you are having what I have come to describe as a Platypus Moment."
CUP OF JOY
CommBank chairman David Turner appears to be more fixated on the first Tuesday of November than the most diehard punter. Asked if he thought the Gillard government was anti-business, Turner told a lunch yesterday: "As far as the government is concerned, in four weeks' time we'll be past the next Melbourne Cup.
"I think [then] I will be able to say with confidence that we've had no problems at all with anybody ... in terms of what they might say about the banking community, interest rates or anything else."
Last Melbourne Cup, Commonwealth Bank raised its mortgage rates 20 basis points above the RBA's official lift in rates.
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Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
What was Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour's total pay package and how was it broken down?
According to the article, Ahmed Fahour collected $2.89 million in the year to June 30. That package included $1.39 million in base pay, $874,200 in short‑term bonuses, $192,622 in superannuation and $242,833 in deferred bonus payments. The article also notes a pay rise awarded on June 22 that lifted his fixed remuneration by 21% to $1.9 million.
How does Ahmed Fahour’s pay compare with Australia’s Reserve Bank governor and the US postmaster general?
The article contrasts Fahour’s $2.89 million package with Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens’s $1.08 million pay package and points out Fahour earns far more than his US counterpart. The US postmaster general Patrick Donahoe is paid about US$276,000 a year, and the article notes Fahour gets more than 10 times his US equivalent.
How do Australia Post’s profits and scale compare with Deutsche Post (DHL’s owner)?
The article reports Deutsche Post posted a €2.63 billion net profit last year, while Australia Post announced a full year net profit of $241.2 million. It also notes Deutsche Post owns the global logistics business DHL and is headquartered in Bonn.
How much mail do the US Postal Service and Australia Post each handle, according to the article?
The article states the US Postal Service handles about 170 billion items of mail each year, compared with Australia Post’s 5.5 billion items.
What did the RBA’s Luci Ellis say about using the term 'black swan' to test financial stability?
Luci Ellis, the Reserve Bank’s head of financial stability, said you 'can't imagine scenarios that are by definition unimaginable' and suggested that rather than looking for an 'unimaginable black swan,' market watchers should observe 'attitudes and behaviours' that can distort markets and lead to crises.
What is a 'Platypus Moment' as described in the article and why was the term used?
The article explains Luci Ellis coined the phrase 'Platypus Moment' to describe behaviour that appears 'too ridiculous to be true, and yet it is true.' She used the platypus — a bizarre, egg‑laying, venomous‑spurred mammal — as a metaphor to urge policymakers to be alert to odd but real market behaviours.
What did Commonwealth Bank chairman David Turner say about the government and banking, and what action by CommBank does the article mention?
David Turner told a lunch audience he expected to be able to say in about four weeks time that the bank had 'no problems at all' with the government on issues such as banking and interest rates. The article also notes that at the last Melbourne Cup, Commonwealth Bank raised its mortgage rates 20 basis points above the RBA’s official lift in rates.
Which international postal CEOs and pay figures were mentioned and compared in the article?
The article compares several postal leaders and their pay: Ahmed Fahour (Australia Post) $2.89 million; Frank Appel (Deutsche Post) took home €2.96 million (about $4 million) in 2010; Moya Greene (Royal Mail) was paid £777,611 (about $1.19 million) in base pay and bonuses; Deepak Chopra (Canada Post) gets about $500,000 a year; Harry Koorstra (privatised Dutch postal service) was paid €1.49 million last year; and Patrick Donahoe (US postmaster general) is paid about US$276,000.
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