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(Bloomberg) — Greg Ward, the Macquarie Group Ltd. banker in charge of the firm’s drive to grab a bigger slice of Australia’s mortgage market, will earn more than the boss of the country’s biggest bank for home loans, as the far smaller rival chips away in the ultra-competitive industry.
Macquarie grew its share of the nation’s mortgages to about 5.3%, according to the firm’s earnings report Friday. Commonwealth Bank of Australia has for years been the biggest player in home loans with around a quarter of the market.
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Ward’s remuneration in the 2024 financial year will be A$11.1 million ($7.3 million), up about 4% from the prior year, the firm’s annual report showed. CBA Chief Executive Officer Matt Comyn was paid A$10.4 million in 2023, its most recent disclosure showed.
“We’ve been investing a lot in the home loans business and you’ve seen the growth come over years in that space,” Ward, the boss of the firm’s retail banking arm, said on a call Friday.
Macquarie’s home-loan portfolio increased to A$119 billion, driven by strong demand in lower loan-to-value ratio lending and owner occupiers. It’s a business growing so fast that it was labeled a “maverick” and emblematic of a competitive market. That argument helped cement a failed antitrust case in which competitor ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. was allowed to acquire regional rival Suncorp Group Ltd.’s banking arm.
The retail business “is offering a customer-experience-focused digital banking offering here with a long runway to grow in home loans, business banking and wealth,” Macquarie Chief Executive Officer Shemara Wikramanayake told investors on the call Friday, highlighting it as a bright spot for the firm, in an otherwise disappointing financial year.
Nick O’Kane, the former commodities and global markets head who left to join Mercuria Energy Group, forfeited compensation after stepping down in February. He’ll get just A$1 million, down from more than A$57 million the year before.
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