MACQUARIE Group’s powerhouse commodities head Nick O’Kane, who famously earned greater than Wall Street chiefs corresponding to JPMorgan Chase & Co’s Jamie Dimon and Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, will step down later this month.
The 28-year veteran of the corporate will resign as head of commodities and international markets and from the manager committee on Feb 27, to “pursue opportunities outside Macquarie”, the financial institution stated on Tuesday (Feb 13).
Simon Wright, at the moment head of the monetary markets unit inside commodities and international markets, will change him and can be a part of the manager committee from Apr 1. Wright has been with Macquarie for 35 years.
O’Kane was a prime performer and well-liked each internally and with purchasers, stated Jamie Hannah, deputy head of investments and capital markets at Van Eck in Sydney, who holds Macquarie shares.
“I don’t think the market was expecting his departure,” he stated. “Interestingly, Macquarie is down nearly 2 per cent today when the banking sector is up. So obviously the market respected his worth.”
The management shuffle got here as Macquarie stated its revenue for the 9 months ended Dec 31 was “substantially down” on the earlier yr. O’Kane made a “massive contribution”, and is leaving for a variety of non-public causes, the lender’s chief government officer Shemara Wikramanayake stated on an analyst name on Tuesday.
O’Kane didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark by cellphone and LinkedIn.
Macquarie’s shares fell as a lot as 4.3 per cent, earlier than paring losses to 1.9 per cent as at 12.11 pm in Sydney (9.11 am SGT).
O’Kane’s division noticed earnings fall, primarily as a result of exceptionally sturdy leads to the earlier interval, the financial institution stated.
It was these outcomes that drove the 59 per cent pay enhance O’Kane acquired within the yr to March 2023. His renumeration for the interval was A$57.6 million (S$50.5 million), in response to Macquarie’s annual report launched final May. In distinction, chief government officer Wikramanayake acquired A$32.8 million.
O’Kane’s pay additionally topped that of the most important US financial institution bosses. Citigroup awarded Fraser US$24.5 million for 2022, whereas JPMorgan saved Dimon’s whole compensation at US$34.5 million for that yr.
At the time, Macquarie chairman Glenn Stevens defended O’Kane’s wage, noting the financial institution is competing for expertise in a worldwide market.
“This is an exceptional year so it’s not a surprise that there are some exceptional numbers,” Stevens stated.
The Sydney-based financial institution entered the US pure fuel market in 2005 with the acquisition of Cook Inlet Energy Supply, and in 2009 acquired Constellation Energy’s downstream pure fuel buying and selling platform.
O’Kane then constructed a matrix of leases over fuel and power transmission networks, making Macquarie probably the most highly effective participant within the US market, in response to The Millionaire’s Factory, a historical past of Macquarie by Chris Wright and Joyce Moullakis, launched final yr.
“It will be interesting to see where he pops up, but he certainly knows the US market well and I imagine knows who is good within Macquarie’s business,” stated UBS Group analyst John Storey. BLOOMBERG
Source: www.businesstimes.com.sg”