Investec sets minimum pay at R21,000 a month

Investec, the niche private banking and wealth management group, has set minimum pay for its SA employees at just under R21,000 a month, becoming the latest company in the financial services sector to disclose its minimum pay.

“We increased our minimum salary for employees in SA to R250,000 per annum, with effect from 1 June 2023,” the company said in its annual report released on Friday.

The increase in minimum pay for the group’s lowest earners does little to close the gap between the top 5% best-paid SA employees and the bottom 5%.

The annual report shows that average single-figure total remuneration of top 5% SA-based employees was R10.1m per annum in the 2024 financial year, while the top 5% pocketed just R297,000. 

Investec is listed in London and Johannesburg.

The Anglo-SA bank’s group CEO, Fani Titi, was paid £5.2m (R120m) in the year under review, down from the £7.5m in the prior year. Investec CFO Nishlan Samujh total pay came in at £3m, down £4.2m he was paid in the prior year.

The decrease in Titi and Samujh total pay for the year was due to a 44.6% drop in long-term incentives in the period for both men.

The lender’s chair, Philip Hourquebie, was paid £471 901 (R10.9m) in the period.

In a change in remuneration policy, the company said Titi’s current fixed pay of £1m would drop to £750,000, while maximum fixed salaries for other executive directors would be reduced from £869,500 per annum to £600,000. 

The group is also trying to close the gap in its gender pay. 

At the SA business, which was founded 50 years ago, the mean hourly pay gap reduced from 28.3% to 27.3%, while the median hourly gap dropped from 23% to 22.6%. 

Gender

The gender bonus gap reduced from a mean figure of 72.6% to 64.9%, while the median rate reduced from 18.9% to 7.6%. 

The mean figure represents the difference between the average of men’s and women’s pay expressed as a percentage of the average male pay, while median represents the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of men’s and women’s pay expressed as a percentage of the male midpoint.

“We are confident that all our employees are paid fairly and equitably based on their role, skills and experience, and this is central to our reward philosophy,” the company said.

“While we have actively tried to increase the diversity of our senior leadership, we recognise that across our organisation we have more work to do. We have thus put together our own set of diversity principles to help define the framework for that journey. These apply across the global business and apply to all our efforts, including transformation in SA.”

Investec said its employment equity plan in SA would end during 2024, and the group was consulting with employees and other stakeholders to develop its next employment equity plan and “as at 31 March 2024, 50% of top management at Investec within SA were people of colour”.

khumalok@businesslive.co.za