The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Kathryn Williams
The head of commodities at Macquarie was paid £31m last year –more than his chief executive as well as the bosses of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
Nick O’Kane landed the windfall as profits at the Australian bank’s commodities business, which trades oil, gas and electricity, jumped 54 per cent to £3.2billion.
It meant he was paid more than Macquarie chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake, who earned £17.6m, for a second year in a row.
Windfall: Nick O’Kane landed the windfall as profits at the Australian bank’s commodities business, which trades oil, gas and electricity, jumped 54 per cent to £3.2billion
That exceeded the riches on Wall Street, where JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon made just over £27m and Goldman chief David Solomon around £20m. Scottish banker Jane Fraser, the chief executive of Citigroup, took home £19m.
The vast payout for O’Kane underlined the strength of commodities trading at Macquarie.
Chairman Glenn Stevens said: ‘This is an exceptional year, so it is not a surprise that it is an exceptional number.’
O’Kane, who joined in 1995 and took over as head of commodities and global markets in 2019, has been credited with making Macquarie the most powerful player in the US gas and energy market.
