Kenya's biggest bank by asset base Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) revealed details of its directors' remuneration, with Chief Executive Officer Joshua Oigara's earnings particularly drawing a lot of attention.
The bank became the first to comply with new financial reporting regulations when it disclosed the figures in their report for the financial year ended December 2017.
Oigara was paid Ksh256 million in 2017, which comes to about Ksh1 million for every working day.
This was a 14 percent increase from the Ksh224 million he received in 2016, placing him in the club of Kenya's top executives with annual earnings in the hundreds of millions.
Oigara explained that the figures had everything to do with a KCB policy that pegs payment of various bonuses on performance.
[caption caption="KCB Chief Executive Joshua Oigara"]
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Bonuses are inextricably linked to the achievement of various metrics focused on the group's profitability, Oigara explained.
He noted that more often than not, directors' earnings were a reflection of the bank's performance for the year.
According to KCB, executive pay takes into account several factors including market average and bonuses based on metrics such as Return on Equity (RoE).
“We (KCB), together with Equity Group and an Egyptian bank, have one of the highest RoE (return on equity) on the continent,” Oigara noted.
He further pointed out that bank executives in East Africa were paid less compared to their counterparts in West and Southern Africa.
[caption caption="KCB CEO Joshua Oigara"]
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