$40,000 pay rise for top executive

Adrian Orr. Photo / Steven McNicholl

The highest paid employee at the New Zealand Superannuation Fund - likely to be chief executive Adrian Orr - has received at least a $40,000 pay rise in the past year.

The state-owned investment fund, which grew by 15.45 per cent to $15.6 billion in the year to June 30, also boosted its staff numbers and the number of people earning over $100,000, according to its annual accounts.

In the year to June 30, 2009 the highest earner had a salary of between $430,000 and $440,000 but in the last financial year it jumped to between $480,000 and $490,000.

At the same time the number of staff earning over $100,000 increased from 43 to 55 and staff numbers grew from 56.2 full-time equivalents to 64.

Chairman David May said all senior managers at the fund had been on a pay freeze in the 2009 financial year and the increase for 2010 reflected a bigger payout for the bonus-related part of the pay package - linked to the performance of the fund - and a lag in remuneration payment from the previous year.

Orr said the increase in staff earning over $100,000 was mainly attributable to new hires and hiring more staff internally had allowed it to cut external costs.

Costs for the fund have dropped from $89.3 million to $78.7 million in the past year.