Monetary authority chief's salary tops HK$9.4m
City's monetary authority chief now earns six times more than head of US Federal Reserve
The chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority received a pay rise of 4.1 per cent last year, giving him a total take-home annual salary of HK$9.41 million.
While Norman Chan Tak-lam's basic salary remained at HK$6 million, the raise mainly came in the form of a 20 per cent increase in variable pay, an amount that depends on individual performance and is equivalent to a bonus at private firms.
The variable pay component of his package, which amounted to HK$2.45 million, represented 4.9 months' salary for Chan. In contrast, the average variable pay for HKMA staff last year amounted to 2.7 months' salary.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority recently announced a 4.5 per cent rise in basic salary for staff this year.
With last year's raise, Chan's pay is more than six times that of the chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board, Ben Bernanke, who makes US$199,700 (HK$1.55 million). But it is still less than his predecessor Joseph Yam Chi-kwong's HK$10.9 million in 2009 and the HK$16.92 million - including bonus - given to the chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, Charles Li Xiaojia, last year.
Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, the legislator for financial services, said Chan's pay rise was "acceptable" as "the market was quite volatile last year but the Exchange Fund's performance was not bad under the authority's management".