ACC employee's pay tops $800,000

Who within ACC is earning over $800,000?

An unnamed ACC employee - understood to be investment manager Nicholas Bagnall, who oversees almost $27 billion in taxpayer funds - got over $800,000 in pay last year, likely making him our highest paid public servant.

The breakdown of staff pay in ACC's annual report yesterday reveals its highest paid received between $810,000 and $820,000 in the last year.

Leaving aside the partially state-owned energy firms, many of whose senior executives get in excess of $1 million a year, the ACC employee's pay tops that of chief executives across the public sector including NZ Super Fund boss Adrian Orr's $791,000.

The Herald understands the ACC employee is not ACC chief executive Scott Pickering but a member of the state-owned injury insurer's investment team, as was the corporation's second highest-paid staffer, on just over $700,000.

Mr Bagnall has led ACC's investment team for the past 15 years. He would not confirm he was the employee referred to in ACC's report but said he was "very well paid".

His base salary before any incentives and other entitlements was about a third of the sum reported.

He said he might make more money in the private sector, but pay was "not actually a big motivator for [me]".

"I get a lot of satisfaction from knowing that I'm working for New Zealand generally and that my efforts benefit the New Zealand public."

Private sector fund manager and Business Herald columnist Brian Gaynor said Mr Bagnall and his team did "an amazingly good job".

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