Macquarie CEO Shemara Wikramanayake announces retirement hours before tense annual meeting

Shemara Wikramanayake is retiring in November as the $26 million-a-year chief executive of Macquarie Group with an $855m share portfolio after eight years at the top and almost four decades with the company known as the “millionaires’ factory”.

Her generous pay and bonuses package is such a sensitive issue the investment banking group on Thursday kept the remuneration vote at its annual general meeting in Sydney a secret, after last year receiving a first strike from shareholders that could trigger a board spill vote if it happened again.

The $98 billion group’s chairman Glenn Stevens, a former Reserve Bank of Australia governor, announced on Thursday morning that Greg Ward, the head of banking and financial services, would replace the 64-year-old CEO, breaking the news ahead of its AGM.

Ms Wikramanayake, who joined Macquarie in 1987 and in 2018 became the first woman to lead it after a decade heading up the asset management division, is retiring from the boards of both Macquarie Group Limited and Macquarie Bank Limited on November 6.

“I just say in terms of what I’ve done here, I mean obviously I have no regrets or I’d have gone and worked somewhere else,” she told shareholders on Thursday afternoon.

“So, I’ve really enjoyed working here and it’s been a privilege to be here, and I really can’t point to things that are just me that have made this organisation do so well because, as I said earlier, it’s very much a team effort.”

Mr Stevens, who has also signalled his intention to step down, said Wikramanayake had “well and truly earned” her remuneration and rejected a suggestion she had resigned over any scandal related to misreporting short selling data, which the Australian Securities and Investments Commission alleges occurred between 2009 and 2024, or its failure to monitor failed investment scheme Shield Master Fund.

“In Shemara’s case, she hasn’t resigned, she’s retiring and there’s no connection between that decision and any of the matters to which you refer at all,” he said.

Mr Stevens brushed aside a shareholder’s question about former KPMG partner Michelle Hinchliffe having a potential conflict of interest being on Macquarie’s audit committee as an independent director, with her old auditing firm admitting to misusing confidential information from construction group Lendlease and telco Optus in a bid to win contracts with rival firms.

“It’s not a matter of having no conflict, it’s being able to draw on Michelle’s experience,” he said.

“There were no particular special favours for KPMG.”

Ms Wikramanayake leaves behind a $26.5 million annual remuneration package that made her Australia’s highest paid captain of banking, having taken home $190.2m in the eight financial years she has been in charge.

Her $1.5m fixed remuneration swelled during the last financial year with share options and bonuses, known as performance share units, which meant she was paid four times the package for Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn who leads Australia’s biggest home lender.

She also heads into retirement with 3.4m shares worth more than $854.6m as of Thursday afternoon.

“The great privilege of this role lies in empowering Macquarie’s talented team to perpetuate our culture of identifying opportunities and taking accountability for delivering on them to drive sustainable, positive outcomes for our stakeholders,” Ms Wikramanayake said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange ahead of an address to shareholders.

A quarter of shareholders last year voted against Macquarie’s remuneration report for the first time ever, triggering a first strike with the 25.4 per cent opposition being above the required 25 per cent threshold.

A second strike on Thursday, yet to be declared to the ASX after the AGM finished, would see a spill of board positions.

Outgoing director Jillian Broadbent, who chaired the remuneration committee, said Macquarie’s financial results justified the high remuneration, following a question from the Australian Shareholders’ Association’s Peter Gregory.

“If you say it’s too high, it’s because our profit is outperforming other financial institutions,” she told the AGM.

Mr Stevens said the remuneration processes had been “well received” in presentations to shareholders.

“We’re always open to continued evolution,” he said.

Mr Ward joined Macquarie Group in 1996 in the same year it listed on the share market, serving as global chief financial officer for 14 years before becoming deputy managing director of Macquarie Group.

He became head of banking and financial services in 2013.

Macquarie Group delivered a profit of $4.8 billion in the year to March 2026, up 30 per cent from the previous financial year.

Ms Wikramanayake, born in the UK to Sri Lankan parents, is among a small number of women to have led an Australian bank, alongside Gail Kelly who ran St George from 2002 to 2007 and Westpac from 2008 to 2015, and Marnie Baker who was chief executive of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank from 2018 to 2024.

Since she replaced Nicholas Moore as CEO in November 2018, Macquarie Group’s share price has more than doubled from $122.

Its share price was 0.4 per cent stronger during the first hour of trade but finished the session down 0.5 per cent at $253.75.