Our loss, their gain

South African-born Allan Moss, who heads up Macquarie Bank, is Australia's highest paid CEO, having earned more than A$33m in 2007. He is credited with having turned Macquarie Bank from a minor player into a major international player, and is widely known as the "Sage of Sydney" or Australia's Warren Buffet.

Also on the top-earner's list is South African-born Gail Kelly, the most highly paid businesswomen in Australia. She is ranked by Fortune magazine as one of the top 50 most powerful women in the world, and is also the first woman to head a top-ten listed Australian company. She immigrated to Australia in 1997 to join the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and worked her way up the ranks, taking over as CEO of Westpac Bank this month.