Macquarie Bank’s $170million-man Nicholas O’Kane shocked many in the finance industry when he announced he was stepping down from his lucrative role.
Mr O’Kane has earned that eye-watering figure over six years since joining the executive committee of the company, dubbed the ‘millionaires’ factory’, in 2017.
He’s been with Macquarie since 1995 and earned $57.6million in the bank’s 2023 financial year.
His pay packet eclipsed that of Macquarie Bank CEO Shemara Wikramanayake, whose total ‘award remuneration’ for 2023 weighed in at a mere $32.8million by comparison.
Despite Mr O’Kane’s staggering wealth, he’s remained relatively out of the public eye, with many surprised about his sudden departure from Macquarie, which was announced on Tuesday.
Macquarie Bank’s $170million-man Nicholas O’Kane announced he’d be stepping down this week
Ms Wikramanayake said he was taking a step away from the company for ‘personal reasons’ during an operational brief this week.
‘He’s made a massive contribution and impact. Part of that has been building an awesome team around the world, mostly through the commodities business, but also more recently across the whole of CGM,’ she said.
Mr O’Kane brought great success to Macquarie in his role as its head of commodities and global markets (CGM) group.
Macquarie’s CGM saw profits skyrocket to $6billion last year, up from $1.6billion in 2018, and Mr O’Kane’s earnings have given him the title of the company’s highest paid executive.
He even pocketed more than Wall Street bigwigs Citigroup’s CEO Jane Fraser and JPMorgan’s chief Jamie Dimon.
Mr O’Kane snapped up Sydney’s most expensive house of the year in 2021 – a spectacular $40million property in Point Piper with harbour views.
The home belonged to Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow who bought the home in 2010 for $8.8million.
Mr O’Kane is also a keen Richmond Tigers fan, with his office filled with paraphernalia from the footy team, the Australian Financial Review reported.
The bank’s CEO cited ‘personal reasons’ for Mr O’Kane’s sudden departure
The bulk of Mr O’Kane’s awarded pay last year came in $39.8million of retained profit share, which is a rolling program paid out over seven years.
That was almost double his $21.3million retained profit share in 2022.
His basic wage was very humble by comparison at just $723,419 in 2023. He also took home an available profit share of $17million.
The bumper pay packet acknowledges Mr O’Kane’s department had played a key role in driving up profits 10 per cent year on year, despite a tough market.
The bank earned its ‘millionaire’s factory’ nickname for its generous pay and bonus structure over the past 20 years but it insists all rewards are performance related.
Macquarie Bank also earned a reputation as a ‘work hard, play hard’ outfit.
A book titled ‘The Millionaires’ Factory’, written by The Australian newspaper’s Joyce Moullakis and Chris Wright, gave an insight into the turbocharged atmosphere of Macquarie.
This included people having sex in its showers or under the desk, and drinking from the well-stocked booze fridge as they worked 12 to 16 hour days.
The bank earned its ‘millionaire’s factory’ nickname for its generous pay and bonus structure over the past 20 years but it insists all rewards are performance related
In the in the lead-up to the global financial crisis of 2008, the partying culture at Macquarie was such that going to a ‘gentleman’s club’ up the road was a tradition every Wednesday lunchtime – but only for the male bankers – and one day pornographic magazines were found in one of the toilets.
The booze fridge opened at midday, and by the early 2000s – when Macquarie’s after-tax profits went from $250million in 2002 to $1.803billion in 2008 – the partying culture was endemic.
The parties were held in five-star hotels, on yachts and included lavish gifts for Macquarie’s loyal workers, including at one Christmas time a keyring from the luxury jewellery house Tiffany.
Mr O’Kane will step down at the end of February to be replaced by Simon Wright, the current head of CGM’s financial markets unit.
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