Company chiefs in Hong Kong are earning as much as HK$31 million a year – but the city’s top and senior executives are still getting far less than their counterparts in Singapore and Japan
January 26, 2014 Leave a comment
HK, Singapore CEOs tell a tale of two salary scales
Eddie Luk
Friday, January 24, 2014
Company chiefs in Hong Kong are earning as much as HK$31 million a year – but the city’s top and senior executives are still getting far less than their counterparts in Singapore and Japan.
The Hay Group found that salaries and year-end bonuses of CEOs in large listed companies in Hong Kong ranged from HK$13.63 million to HK$31.3 million a year.
But this is 34 percent less than that pulled in by top executives in Singapore.
And another survey showed that even senior executives in Hong Kong get 14 percent less than their counterparts in Singapore.
That’s according to Towers Watson, a professional services firm, which compared the salaries of senior executives in business corporations in Asian economies that also included Vietnam, Indonesia and others.
Based on the Hay Group survey, CEOs in banking, finance, telecoms and “consumer discretionary” industries are generally highly paid, taking home as much as HK$31.3 million a year.
Those in the financial/ banking and communication/ telecom sectors are paid HK$28.03 million and HK$20.68 million, respectively.
CEOs in the industrial sector are paid around HK$13.63 million a year.
On average, the salary of CEOs in the top 25 percent was HK$22.17 million a year.
The middle 50 percent took home HK$10.62 million and the bottom 25 percent got HK$4.82 million. Hay Group Hong Kong general manager Thomas Higgins said: “Changes in total CEO remuneration value is not always obviously linked to performance.”
Chinese University economics professor Terence Chong Tai-leung said: “As the retail industry is booming, particularly for firms selling watches, handbags and cosmetic products, they are willing to pay high salaries for the best CEOs.”
“In Singapore, firms are willing to offer extremely high salaries to lure talented people.”
Centaline Human Resources Consultants managing director Alexa Chow Yee-Ping agreed with Chong, saying that in recent years Singapore’s economic development has been stronger than Hong Kong’s.
About bambooinnovator
Bamboo Innovator 