Zenith Bank executive compensation drops 2 straight years despite rising profit
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Executive compensation in Zenith Bank, Nigeria’s largest bank by market capitalisation, dropped to N1.08 billion in 2021, down from N1.25 billion in 2020 and N2.04 billion in 2019 despite rising profit.
Executive compensation is the salaries and benefits paid to executive management of multinationals and quoted companies.
Zenith Bank’s latest financial statement shows the number of Executive Directors of the Group (not the bank) was 12 in 2019, up to 15 in 2020, down to six in 2021.
It disclosed the salary package for Directors as
- Basic salary (paid monthly)
- Other allowances (paid periodically during the year)
- Productivity bonus (paid annually in arrears)
- Director fees (paid during AGM)
- Sitting allowances (after board meetings)
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Compensation breakdown
According to the financial statement, the executive compensation the Zenith Bank Group paid in the three years from 2019 to 2021 is as follows:
- 2019 – N2.04 billion to 12 Executive Directors. Fees and sitting allowances N405 million. Total emoluments N2.448 billion.
- 2020 – N1.25 billion to 15 Executive Directors. Sitting allowance N409 million, retirement benefits N13 million. Total N1.67 billion.
- 2021 – N1.08 billion to 6 Executive Directors. Fees and sitting allowance N568 million, retirement benefits N9 million. Total N1.66 billion.
The Group Managing Director (MD)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was paid N246 million in 2021, up from N230 million in 2020, per reporting by Nairametrics.
Board composition
The Zenith Bank Group explained that its board comprises
- Non-Executive Chairman
- Six Non-Executive Directors
- Six Executive Directors including the GMD/CEO
- Four of the Non-Executive Directors are Independent Directors
The GMD/CEO is responsible for the day-to-day running of the bank and oversees the Group structure.
He is assisted by the Executive Committee (EXCO), which comprises
- GMD/CEO (Chairman) Ebenezer Onyeagwu
- Deputy Managing Director Adaora Umeoji
- Executive Directors
- Umar Shuaib Ahmed
- Temitope Fasoranti
- Dennis Olisa
- Henry Oroh
Drop in executive compensation
The financial statement shows that the slash in executive compensation may be due to how the bank classifies its Executive Directors.
In 2019 and 2020, it reported its Executive Directors for both the Group (bank plus subsidiaries) and the bank with the latter having just six Executive Directors.
In 2021 it reported only six Executive Directors for both the Ggroup and the bank. It is unclear why this is so, though it may have been reclassified as management personnel.
Overall management compensation was N2.1 billion in 2021 against N2 billion in 2020. Zenith Bank has a total 420 management staff (excluding Directors).
It reported N244.5 billion profit after tax on 28 February 2022, its biggest ever.
