Insurance executives may have experienced some tidy pay increases this year, but it’s all relative.

Last week the mainstream press made much about the “largesse” involved in the pay packets of some of the industry’s most respected CEOs, including Promina’s Mike Wilkins, QBE’s Frank O’Halloran and Vero’s Duncan West.

The Australian Financial Review reported that Mr Wilkins received a 36% increase in total remuneration to $2.25 million, while Mr West received a 62% rise to $1.23 million. Not bad, but what the newspaper failed to highlight was the fact that Promina recorded a 54% increase in profit last year.

Mr O’Halloran was paid $3.6 million – up 36% over the 2003 level – for leading the group through its highly successful takeover trail and helping the group achieve record profits.

One analyst told Sunrise Exchange News the salaries of insurance executives “are standard given the type of capital the companies are generating”.

“The press shows interest because everyone is looking at the market very closely in terms of the cycles and rates and so on,” he said.

“But I wouldn’t say salaries are excessive. The executives are just being rewarded for doing a very good, sound job.”

Some comparisons: last year Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon took home more than $6 million, Macquarie Bank CEO Allan Moss is on more than $9 million a year and News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch makes more than $29 million a year.