Mike Baird's return to banking has proved enormously lucrative for the former NSW premier, who was paid almost $900,000 in his first five months at National Australia Bank.
NAB's annual report for the 12 months to September 30 showed that Mr Baird, who took charge of NAB's corporate and institutional unit on April 21, was awarded total remuneration of $886,845.
The report released on Tuesday showed Mr Baird received $763,520 in salary and short-term incentives, a cash pile that on its own was more than twice the $377,780 salary he was earning before he suddenly quit as NSW premier in January.
His remuneration is the equivalent of $2 million per annum.
Mr Baird resigned from politics to spend more time with his family and, six weeks after exiting the NSW parliament, accepted an offer from chief executive Andrew Thorburn to return to NAB.
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Mr Baird started his banking career in 1989 at NAB's St Ives branch in Sydney and worked in corporate banking with Deutsche Bank and HSBC prior to a 10-year stint in state politics.
Mr Baird's pay packet may dwarf the one he received as premier but it was substantially smaller than the one enjoyed by fellow new arrival Patrick Wright.
Mr Wright, who became chief technology and operations officer on April 26, was the second-best paid executive after Mr Thorburn.
Mr Wright's total remuneration for his first five months was $4.39 million, which included a staggered cash payment of $2.8 million to compensate for forfeited awards from previous employer Barclays.
Mr Thorburn was awarded total remuneration of $6.63 million, down slightly on the $6.71 million he was awarded in the previous financial year.
The bank lifted its full-year cash profit 2.5 per cent to $6.64 billion but Mr Thorburn received only 49 per cent of his maximum short-term incentives - compared to 69 per cent in 2016 - because NAB did not meet its targets for improving customer advocacy.
Total executive remuneration fell from $35.1 million to $34.5 million.
