Facts are facts, friends: the top dogs in the insurance industry are making a hefty amount of money these days, according to a report by Moneyweb.

Sure, there are other well-known South African businessmen out there right now who are wealthy as all hell, but the money that these top executives from South Africa’s largest insurers earned in 2017 is certainly nothing to scoff at.

I mean, would you turn your nose up at a R23 million salary?

Nah, I didn’t think so.

Here’s a rundown of the execs who are striking it rich in the game of life:

Sanlam Group CEO Ian Kirk is the best-paid chief executive of them all in the county right now. His guaranteed package came to R8,6 million, while he earned R10 million as a short-term incentive and R4,4 m as a long-time incentive.

As a result, he earned a whopping total of R23 million in 2017.

Sjoe, Ian. You done did the thing.

This here is Discovery CEO Adrian Gore. He was paid R17,65 million in the year to June 30 (this comprises a R7,45 million guaranteed package, a R3,56 million short-term incentive and a sweet R6,14 million incentive).

MMI Holdings Nicolaas Kruger must be laughing all the way to the bank with his R17,49 million earnings (although he probably looks a bit miffed here – maybe because Gore beat him out for second place, who knows).

With a R6,87 million guaranteed package and a long-term incentive of R10,61 million, Kruger didn’t receive a short-term incentive.

Shame, he must be doubly miffed now.

Old Mutual Limited CEO Peter Moyo was paid a decent R15,05 million. He was paid R4,48 million in the year to end December last year, earning a combined R10,57 million figure for both short-term and long-term incentives.

Talk about a nice way to end 2017.

New Liberty Holdings CEO David Munro had a lekker 2017. He was paid R8,519 million for the seven months to the end of December, since joining from Standard Bank Group.

Moneyweb reckons that he would’ve been paid over R7,5 million in fixed pay had he been in the position for the full year.

What a bonus.

So it looks like Ian Kirk is the insurance CEO/king to rule them all, doesn’t it?

But Moneyweb says nay. There actually were better paid executives in 2017 than Kirk. *Dramatic music*

Observe the real money lords:

Herschel Mayers, CEO of Discovery’s UK business VitalityLife, received a total package of R44,32 million last year, but this included remuneration in primarily pounds.

Still, it’s bloody R44,32 million.

Take that, Kirk.

CEO of Sanlam subsidiary Lizé Lambrechts, according to the report, “is the second highest-paid at R36,07 million, due to a R19 million payment as part of the assurer’s Out-Performance Plan (OPP)”.

Attagirl, Lambrechts.

Mayers’ counterpart, Discovery CEO of VitalityHealth Neville Koopwitz, comes in at third, raking in a cool R33,91 million.

Sorry about it, Kruger.

Liberty Holdings CEO Thabo Dloti was reportedly paid the fourth-highest (R24,97 million), but “the bulk of this comprises a R19 million “separation payment” following his resignation in May”.

Ah well, at least Dloti still got a handsome paycheck.

Must be nice to be an insurance exec, huh?

[source:moneyweb]