Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award [MA000019]: Pay rates, allowances, and overtime

Author

The Rippling Team

Published

18 August 2024

Updated

12 December 2025

Read time

8 MIN

In this article

The Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award outlines the minimum pay rules for employees working in banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and other financial services businesses. It covers base pay rates, hours of work, overtime, penalties, allowances, superannuation, and leave.

This award packs in a lot of detail. Even little mistakes in overtime, penalties, or classifications can turn into underpayments, disputes, or complicated back-pay corrections.

To make this easier, we put together this Banking Award pay guide. It explains the main pay rules so you can calculate wages correctly, spot where extra costs apply, and stay compliant without reading the award line by line.

Banking Award pay guide

Wage theft laws now attach real consequences to even small underpayments. So, getting the pay basics right from day one is more important than ever.

The Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award outlines pay floors for employees across the sector, with rates linking to job function and classification level. Note that these award rates are more than the national minimum wage and form the baseline for all wage calculations.

Casual employment comes at an extra cost. You must add a 25% casual loading on top of the minimum rate to make up for the absence of paid leave and other entitlements.

And remember that award rates also change regularly. Each year, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) reviews and adjusts minimum wages, which means static pay tables age rather quickly. Payroll systems that update award rates automatically reduce the risk of outdated figures sneaking into payslips.

Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award minimum pay rates

Category	Description	Rates/Details	Example
Adult employees	Employees aged 21 and over	Level 1: $50,866 per year, $978.20 per week, or $25.74 per hour Level 2: $55,557 per year, $1,068.40 per week, or $28.12 per hour Level 3: $58,682 per year, $1,128.50 per week, or $29.70 per hour Level 4: $61,625 per year, $1,185.10 per week, or $31.19 per hour Level 5: $64,126 per year, $1,233.20 per week, or $32.45 per hour Level 6: $71,822 per year, $1,381.20 per week, or $36.35 per hour	A 25-year-old full-time customer service representative will be paid $55,557 per year or $1,068.40 per week.
Junior employees	Employees aged under 21	Under 17: 50% of adult employee rate 17 years: 60% of adult employee rate 18 years: 70% of adult employee rate 19 years: 80% of adult employee rate 20 years: 90% of adult employee rate	An 18-year-old part-time junior administrative assistant will earn $18.02 per hour (70% of the adult Level 1 rate)
Supported wage system	Employees with a disability eligible for a supported wage	Where an employee is covered by a supported wage arrangement, the minimum amount payable is determined by the assessed capacity and the relevant award pay rates set out in the Miscellaneous Award. This applies to supported wage systems across industries, including legal services.	An employee with a disability assessed at 50% capacity earns 50% of the relevant minimum rate for their classification.
National training wage	Employees undertaking a traineeship	Trainee pay rates are determined under Schedule E of the Miscellaneous Award, which applies across industries. Rates depend on the trainee’s qualification level, year of training, schooling background, and time out of school.	A first-year trainee completing a Certificate III in Financial Services who finished Year 12 and left school less than a year ago is classified under Wage Level A, Year 1. They earn at least $648.10 per week (or $17.06 per hour) according to the 1 July 2025 Fair Work pay guide.

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Finance Award allowances

The Banking, Finance and Insurance Award includes allowances that cover extra costs employees can face when doing their job. These payments aren’t optional. If the situation applies, you have to pay the allowance and show it as a separate line on the employee’s payslip.

Here are some of the main allowances under this Award:

First aid allowance: If legislation requires you to appoint a qualified first aid officer, you must pay $19.66 per week for full-time employees, or a pro-rata amount for part-time employees.
Stand-by and call-back allowance: If you require an employee to make themselves available outside of their ordinary hours, you must pay a stand-by allowance. This is $22.65 per day from Monday to Friday, and $46.26 per day on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.
Meal allowance (overtime): If an employee works 1.5 hours of overtime later than 6:00 p.m., you must pay $21.27 or provide a suitable meal. If overtime goes over 5.5 hours, you must pay an extra $17.48.
Motor vehicle allowance: If an employee is to provide their own vehicle to complete their job duties, you must pay a weekly allowance of $128.95 for vehicles up to 1500cc, or $159.07 for vehicles over 1500cc. If you approve private vehicle use on a casual or incidental basis, you must pay $0.99 per kilometre.

Insurance Award superannuation

Superannuation obligations mainly come from federal superannuation laws and the National Employment Standards (NES). The Banking, Finance and Insurance Award doesn’t override those rules. It reinforces them and sets out how fund choice and contributions work in this sector.

Here are the most important things to know:

How much to pay: You must pay super at the current Superannuation Guarantee (SG) rate of 12% of ordinary time earnings (OTE).
When to pay: You must pay super at least quarterly to avoid the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC). From 1 July 2026, though, payday super will require you to pay super at the same time as wages, moving super from a quarterly task to a pay-run-by-pay-run obligation.
Who gets super: You must pay super for employees aged 18 and over, regardless of how many hours they work. For employees under 18, you only pay super if they work more than 30 hours in a week.
Fund choice and stapled funds: New employees usually have the right to choose their own super fund. If they don’t, you must check with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to see if they have a stapled fund and pay contributions into it if one exists.
Default and award-nominated funds: If an employee doesn’t choose a fund and doesn’t have a stapled fund, you can pay super into an award-nominated fund that accepts new members. The Banking Award lists funds such as CareSuper, AustralianSuper, Sunsuper, HESTA, Statewide Super, Tasplan, NGS Super, and MTAA Super.
Defined benefit members: If an employee belongs to a defined benefit fund or scheme, you can keep contributing to that fund. This is as long as it meets superannuation law requirements.
Voluntary employee contributions: Employees can authorise extra super contributions from their post-tax wages in writing. Once deducted, you must send the contributions to the fund within 28 days after the end of the month.

Banking Award overtime and penalty rates

The Banking, Finance and Insurance Award includes specific rules for overtime and shift penalties. These rules don’t apply automatically to every extra hour an employee works. They only apply when the award’s conditions are met.

Overtime

Overtime applies when you direct an employee to work outside their ordinary hours of work, as defined by the award. You calculate overtime per day, not averaged across the week.

Overtime rates under this Award are:

Hours of overtime worked per day	Full-time and part-time employees	Casual employees
Monday to Saturday—first three hours	150% of minimum hourly rate	175% of minimum hourly rate
Monday to Saturday—after 3 hours	200% of minimum hourly rate	225% of minimum hourly rate
Sunday—all time worked	200% of minimum hourly rate	225% of minimum hourly rate
Rostered day off—all time worked	200% of minimum hourly rate	225% of minimum hourly rate

Note: If an employee works overtime and you roster them to start their next shift with less than a 10-hour break, they can delay their start time until they receive a full 10 hours off. If you require them to start earlier, you must continue paying overtime rates until the employee gets a break of at least 10 consecutive hours.

Time off instead of payment for overtime

You and your employees can agree (in writing) on them taking time off instead of overtime pay. The time off must equal the value of the overtime they work and they must take the time off within six months.

Employees can ask you to pay them out for overtime at any time, and you must pay it in the next pay period. If time off remains unused after six months, or if employment ends, you must pay the overtime out at the applicable overtime rate. You mustn't pressure employees to choose time off instead of pay.

Shift penalties and public holiday rates

The Banking, Finance and Insurance Award applies shift penalties only to employees who meet the award’s definition of a shiftworker. These penalties don't apply to standard day workers who only start early or finish late every now and then.

Shift types (ordinary hours)

Early morning: starts between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.
Afternoon: finishes between 6:00 p.m. and midnight
Night: finishes between midnight and 8:00 a.m.

Employees who work between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., or up to 9:00 p.m. on one weekday night, are not shiftworkers for award purposes. Casual and part-time employees only receive shift penalties if their ordinary hours fall within these shift definitions.

Shift work penalty rates (ordinary hours)

Shift type	Rate
Early morning	112% of minimum hourly rate
Afternoon	120% of minimum hourly rate
Evening	125% of minimum hourly rate

Employees who permanently work afternoon shifts, night shifts, or a combination of both receive an additional 5% loading. Make sure you apply the correct award rate instead of stacking percentages.

Public holidays (all employees)

Public holiday penalty rates apply to all employees covered by the award, not just shiftworkers. You must pay for any work an employee performs on a public holiday or substituted public holiday at 250% of the minimum hourly rate. You must also observe a minimum of four hours’ pay if the employee is available to work.

If an employee works both the public holiday and substitute day, they can choose which day attracts the public holiday rate.

Payment of wages under the Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award

You must pay employees in line with the Fair Work Act, the NES, and the Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award. The award sets the rules for how, when, and on what basis you must pay wages.

How to pay wages

Pay frequency: You must pay employees weekly or fortnightly, as decided by you. You can only pay wages monthly if both parties agree. Where monthly pay applies, you must pay two weeks in advance and two weeks in arrears.
Payment method: You must pay wages by cash, cheque, or electronic funds transfer (EFT). You choose the method.
Deductions: You can only make deductions that the law allows, the award authorises, or the employee agrees to in writing and for their benefit.
Payslips and records: You must issue payslips for every pay period. If you pay allowances, you must show them as separate line items on the payslip.

Payment on termination

When employment ends, you must pay the employee within seven days of their final day. This includes:

Outstanding wages for any completed or partial pay period
All other entitlements owed under the award and the NES

The FWC can approve delays in limited situations. For example, whereby redundancy pay sits under review. State and territory long service leave laws may also require payout on termination or shortly after.

Annualised wage arrangements

This award allows you to pay some full-time employees an annualised wage instead of paying certain award entitlements separately. An annualised wage can cover:

Minimum rates
Allowances
Overtime
Penalty rates
Annual leave loading

If you use an annualised wage, you must put the arrangement in writing and make clear:

Which award provisions the annualised wage covers
How you calculated the wage, including any overtime or penalty assumptions
The outer limits on ordinary hours and overtime the salary covers

If an employee works beyond those outer limits in a pay period or roster cycle, you must pay the extra hours at the applicable award rates. This is on top of the annualised wage.

An annualised wage must leave the employee no worse off than if you had paid them strictly under the award. To meet this requirement, you must:

Reconcile pay every 12 months, or when employment ends
Compare what the employee received against what the award would have required
Pay any shortfall within 14 days

You must also keep accurate records of start and finish times, unpaid breaks, and hours worked each pay period or roster cycle. The employee must confirm these records as accurate, either in writing or electronically.

Banking Award leave

Most leave entitlements come from the NES. The Banking, Finance and Insurance Award largely relies on those rules, with a few award-specific details to keep in mind:

Annual leave

Entitlement: Full-time employees receive four weeks of paid annual leave each year. Part-time employees receive the same entitlement on a pro-rata basis. Casual employees don’t receive annual leave. Some 7-day shiftworkers who regularly work on Sundays and public holidays may get an additional week of annual leave under the Banking Award.
Annual leave loading: The Banking Award includes 17.5% annual leave loading when an employee takes annual leave. This is unless an annualised wage arrangement already compensates for it. Where applicable, calculate the loading on the employee’s ordinary rate of pay.
Leave in advance: You and your employees can agree in writing for annual leave to be taken before it accrues. If employment ends before they can earn the leave back, you can recover the excess amount from final pay where permitted by law.
Cashing out annual leave: Employees can cash out up to two weeks of annual leave in a 12-month period. This is as long as they keep at least four weeks accrued. The agreement must be in writing. And you must pay at least what the employee would have earned if they had taken the leave.
Excessive leave accruals: More than eight weeks of accrued leave counts as excessive under the NES. You should first try to agree on a plan to reduce the balance. If an agreement isn’t possible, you can direct an employee to take leave. This is as long as they keep at least six weeks accrued and you don’t require them to take more than four weeks in a 12-month period.
Shutdowns: The Banking Award doesn't include a specific shutdown clause. If you require employees to take leave during a shutdown, this must rely on agreement or a reasonable direction under the NES, rather than automatic award authority.
Termination: When employment ends, you must pay out unused annual leave. Where applicable, this includes annual leave loading.

Other types of leave

These entitlements come directly from the NES:

Personal/carer’s leave: Full-time employees receive 10 days of paid personal/carer’s leave per year. Part-time employees receive this on a pro rata basis. Casual employees don’t receive paid leave but can take up to two days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion.
Compassionate leave: Employees can take two days of compassionate leave per occasion when a close family or household member dies or suffers a life-threatening illness or injury. Full-time and part-time employees receive paid leave. Casual employees receive unpaid leave.
Parental leave: Full-time, part-time, and regular casual employees with 12 months’ service can take up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave. There is also the option for them to request a further 12 months.
Community service leave: Employees can take leave for jury duty or emergency service activities. You must pay full-time and part-time employees for up to 10 days of jury duty. Other community service leave is unpaid.
Family and domestic violence leave: All employees, including casuals, have a right to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year.

Public holidays

Entitlement: Full-time and part-time employees have a right to a paid day off on a public holiday if it falls on a day they would usually work. Casual employees only receive payment if they work on the public holiday.
Payment for working on a public holiday: As discussed, you must pay any employee who works on a public holiday 250% of their minimum hourly rate. This rate applies to all award-covered employees, including casuals. Casual loading doesn't stack on top of the public holiday rate. A four-hour minimum engagement also exists on public holidays.
Substituting public holidays: You and your employees can agree in writing to substitute another day or part-day for a public holiday.
Requests to work: You can ask an employee to work on a public holiday where the request is reasonable. Employees can refuse if their refusal is also reasonable.
Recognised public holidays: Public holidays include national days such as New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. There are also state or territory public holidays to note.

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8 pointers for getting Banking Award pay right

01
Lock in classifications before payroll starts
Many pay issues in banking and finance start with roles sitting at the wrong classification level. Titles don’t matter, but duties do. Use HR software with a built-in HRIS to assign roles and levels early, so payroll calculations flow from the correct award base.
02
Separate overtime from shift penalties
The Banking Award treats overtime and shift penalties differently. And they don’t apply to everyone. Day workers, shiftworkers, and employees on averaged hours can all trigger different outcomes. Award-aware payroll software helps apply the right rules without manual overrides.
03
Don’t assume early or late hours trigger penalties
Under the Banking Award, not all early starts or late finishes attract penalty rates. Penalties only apply once an employee meets the award’s shiftwork definition. Payroll and rostering systems need to reflect this properly, or you risk paying penalties that the award doesn’t require.
04
Watch part-time hours closely
Part-time employees must work within their agreed pattern of hours. When managers roster outside that pattern, overtime or additional payments can apply. Scheduling tools that flag pattern breaches early help prevent avoidable back pay.
05
Be cautious with annualised wages
Annualised salaries only work if you track hours and reconcile pay properly. You need clear outer limits and accurate records of time worked. Reliable time and attendance software makes these annual checks faster and far less painful.
06
Treat allowances as pay items, not admin details
First aid, stand-by, call-back, meal, and travel allowances are wage entitlements under the Banking Award. You must calculate them correctly and show them separately on payslips. Payroll systems should treat allowances as structured pay items, not notes.
07
Plan public holidays and after-hours work ahead of time
Banking and insurance teams often support customers outside standard hours. Knowing when public holiday rates, minimum payments, and call-back rules apply helps avoid surprise costs and rushed payroll fixes.
08
Train managers on award basics, not just payroll teams
Most errors start at the rostering, approval, or workload stage, not in payroll. Managers need a working understanding of overtime triggers, shift definitions, and part-time limits. A learning management system (LMS) can keep this training consistent and up to date without manual follow-ups.

Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award pay nuances employers often miss

Some parts of the Banking, Finance and Insurance Award look simple on the surface, but the details can easily trip employers up. Here are some of the nuances that cause the most confusion in real-world payroll and rostering:

Nuance	What it means	Why it matters
Extra week of annual leave for certain shiftworkers	Some employees qualify for five weeks of annual leave instead of four. This only applies to employees who work across a seven-day roster and regularly work on Sundays and public holidays.	If you assume all shiftworkers qualify, you’ll overstate leave entitlements. If you miss eligible employees, you’ll under-credit leave and may need to fix balances or payouts later.
Minimum break after overtime	Employees should receive at least 10 consecutive hours off between finishing overtime and starting their next shift. If that break doesn’t happen, the employee can delay their next start without losing pay. If you require them to work anyway, overtime rates continue until they get that break.	Tight rosters can trigger extra paid time. Without controls, overtime costs can sky-rocket and create compliance risk.
You need to pay stand-by and call-back differently	Being rostered on stand-by attracts a stand-by allowance even if no work happens. If you call an employee back to work, overtime applies with a minimum two-hour payment, including travel time.	Mixing these up leads to missed allowances or underpaid overtime. These errors often go unnoticed until an employee challenges their payslip.

Put Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award pay on autopilot with Rippling

Pay under the Banking, Finance and Insurance Award isn’t complex because it’s obscure. It’s complicated because the rules change depending on how people work. A late finish doesn’t always trigger a penalty. Shift penalties only apply once someone crosses specific thresholds. Annualised salaries only work if hours stay within set limits. It’s easy to miss one of those details when you’re doing pay by hand.

Rippling's all-in-one workforce management software helps by keeping the basics connected, from HR, to time tracking, rosters, and payroll. Everything pulls from the same record. When someone moves onto shiftwork, works overtime, or exceeds their annualised limits, payroll reflects that change without you having to manually adjust the numbers.

Rippling also applies the award rules that tend to get overlooked, like annual leave loading, stand-by and call-back allowances, super, and final pay when someone leaves. Award rate updates apply automatically, so you can have peace of mind knowing you're not relying on last year’s figures.

The end result? Fewer surprises on payday, fewer corrections after the fact, and more confidence that the Banking Award rules are being applied consistently as work patterns change.

FAQs

Who does the banking, finance, and insurance award cover?

The Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award covers employees working in banks, credit unions, building societies, and finance companies. It also covers money market dealers and those working in the insurance industry. This includes a wide range of operational, customer-facing, and support roles.

Coverage depends on what the business does and the duties the employee performs, not job titles alone. Even within the same organisation, some roles may fall under the award while others sit outside it.

Do annualised salaries mean I don't need to pay overtime and penalties?

Not automatically. An annualised salary can cover overtime and penalties, but only if the arrangement meets the Banking Award’s rules.

You must clearly outline what the salary covers, track actual hours worked, and define outer limits on ordinary hours and overtime. If an employee works beyond those limits, you must pay the extra hours separately under the award.

This is important because overtime and shift penalties only apply in specific circumstances under the Banking Award. An annualised salary can only replace those payments up to the agreed limits.

How do I know which classification level an employee is?

Classification depends on the duties the employee performs. It doesn't come down to their title or whether they’re full-time or part-time.

Under the Banking Award, each classification level describes the type of work, level of responsibility, decision-making, and supervision involved. To get it right, review the role’s day-to-day tasks and match them to the closest award description. If duties change or the role becomes more complex, the classification (and pay) may need to change as well.

When in doubt, document the duties and reassess rather than defaulting to a lower level.

Can I pay the national minimum wage instead of the banking award rates?

No. If the Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award covers the role, you must pay at least the minimum wage prescribed by the award for that classification level.

The national minimum wage only applies where no modern award or enterprise agreement covers the employee. Paying below the Banking Award rates, even unintentionally, can lead to underpayments and back pay obligations.

Your business is complex. Your payroll software shouldn't be.

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Disclaimer

Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide or be relied on for tax, accounting, or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, accounting and legal advisers before engaging in any related activities or transactions.

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21 Aug 2025

15 MIN

An overview of the Banking, Finance, and Insurance Award [MA000019]

A summary of the Banking, Finance and Insurance Award [MA000019], including coverage, employment types, rostering, pay, allowances, superannuation, and leave.