Many of the most senior two tiers of executives at ANZ will receive little, if any, pay rise in 2012 following a decision to cap aggregate pay rises across this cohort at one per cent.
ANZ conveyed the decision to senior staff three weeks ago, the Financial Review reports. The capped pay rise applies to about 900 people.
The AFR quoted from an email to senior staff from the bank's CEO, Mike Smith, that said the effective pay freeze was needed in light of the challenging operating environment.
A corresponding pay freeze in 2009 at ANZ affected only the top layer of executives, or around 180 people.
The Australian, meanwhile, reports on incremental job cuts at Commonwealth Bank that eliminated 40 roles within the bank's risk management division over recent months.
According to The Australian the bank's latest effort to identify job cuts and processing improvements is referred to internally as "project 35", and a reference to the bank's aim of achieving a cost to income ratio of 35 per cent in its retail banking unit by 2013.