insto - Australian financial markets

By replacing face-to-face meetings in the US and UK with "immersive telepresence" conferences, global actuarial and consulting firm Milliman's Sydney office expects to save $250,000 in flight and travel costs over the next 12 months.

Milliman, with over 2,100 employees worldwide, established the Sydney office in early 2007 to service a blue-chip client base that includes insurance providers, superannuation funds, investment companies and wealth management businesses.

With calls for executive pay to be capped, and a Productivity Commission enquiry underway, a new survey has revealed that the global financial crisis has already imposed cuts to Australian CEOs’ pay packets.

Management consulting firm Hay Group has revealed that the total annual rewards for Australia's top CEOs declined by 6.8 per cent in the year to May 2009. The firm said the downward moves in total annual reward (fixed pay plus annual incentives) reflected the downturn in corporate profits over the past 12 months.

Our staff reporter Jane Lee went along to hear Productivity Commissioner Chair Gary Banks outline his agenda at a Finsia breakfast briefing on 3 June.  Here are some of the key items to emerge from a wide-ranging speech:

The short-term bonuses for executives have risen, while fixed salaries have dropped to under a third of their total remuneration in the last eight years, said the head of the Government’s independent review into executive remuneration.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is cutting executive salaries to help save jobs. Chief executive Ralph Norris will have his base pay reduced by 10 per cent, while base wages for members of his senior executive committee will be slashed by 5 per cent. The board of directors will have their pay cut by 10 per cent from July, while the majority of staff earning less than $100,000 per year will have pay rises capped at 1.5 per cent – a decision the Finance Sector Union called the “sting in the tail” of this announcement.