As Macquarie's profits head down, so do the bonus payments to the investment bank's top executives.

Gone were the days of pay cheques in the tens of millions of dollars for top executives, although returns were still measured in the millions of dollars.

Chief executive Nicholas Moore was paid $7.79 million in salary, bonus, benefits and vested shares over the past year, down from $8.69 million a year earlier. This included a a $2 million cash bonus, which was down from $2.7 million last year.

Underscoring the group's shift to funds management, the bank's funds boss, Shemara Wikramanayake, ranked second highest in the Macquarie pay stakes, taking home $7.36 million last year. This was up from $5.62 million a year earlier.

The head of Macquarie's fixed interest and commodities trading group Andrew Downe was paid $7.26 million, although this was off from $8.38 million last year.