AMP CIO gets 21% salary increase in 2009

AMP’s chief information officer (CIO), Lee Barnett, received a 21 per cent increase in remuneration for the organisation’s 2009 financial year over 2008.

The company’s annual report shows that while Barnett’s base cash salary remained level with 2008, the CIO picked up $280,000 in short-term incentives and increases in other share-based payments to take her overall salary to $1,951,000.

The increase was in line with other AMP executives with chief executive officer and managing director, Craig Dunn, raking in just over $5, up from $3.85 in 2008.

In February, AMP said its investment in ICT during 2009 helped minimise the negative impact of the global financial crisis.

In its financial statement for 2009, the financial services company said its AMP Financial Planning business had benefited from the successful rolled out of a new financial planning platform.

The company is now in the process of running a program to help its AMP Financial Planning and Hillross practice to realise the benefits of the platform — expected to bring efficiency gains of up to 30 per cent.

Its AMP Capital Investors (CI) business also continued to invest in technology during 2009, completing the transition to a new strategic platform and rolling out new back office services which would allow the organisations financial planners to spend more time with clients, according to the company.

AMP recorded an underlying profit of $772 million for the full year 2009, down five per cent on 2008.

According to the Hudson ICT Salary Survey for 2010 CIO salaries vary from state to state, with a CIO in South Australia starting at $150,000 and an equivalent role in NSW worth $180,000.

At the higher end of the scale, experienced (or high-value industry) CIOs should be raking in more than $300,000 in South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and the ACT; $350,000-plus in Victoria and above $400,000 in Sydney.