Institutional activists got serious about curbing CEO paychecks last year and, as a result, the number of shareholder proposals related to executive pay was down this past proxy season. What’s happening is that CEO pay is being aligned more to performance indicators like share price. This doesn’t mean their pay is shrinking, though; it’s just dispersed across various forms of compensation.
Executives in the financial services industry took home bigger paychecks in 2004, according to a recent survey of 1,800 banks, thrifts, real estate investment trusts (Reits), insurance companies and other financial institutions put together by SNL Financial.
Large companies with more than $5 bn in assets saw executive compensation increase significantly from 2003. However, large company executives’ base salary remained relatively unchanged. This means top executives were receiving more compensation from bonuses, restricted stock, long-term incentives and health and life insurance, as well as other forms of compensation. On the flip side, total compensation was down for smaller companies with less than $250 mn in assets.
Across the board, a larger percentage of CEO compensation came in the form of bonuses, restricted stock, stock options and other compensation items compared with base salary last year (see chart, left). This trend is attributed to the fact that other parts of their compensation package are tied to their company’s financial performance, so the better the firm does, the more ‘other compensation’ they take home.
Life is still pretty good for CEOs: their median base salary in 2004 was approximately $300,000, a 16 percent increase on 2003. Total median compensation for CEOs totaled more than $500,000, a 17 percent increase on 2003. Stock options comprised 43 percent of total compensation for CEOs in 2004, compared with 30 percent in 2003.
Salary and total compensation for other senior financial industry executives in 2004 outpaced CEO compensation. In fact, the median percentage increases in CEO total compensation was less than for CFOs. Why? The increased burden of regulation has increased demand and compensation for skilled senior management. Also, corporate boards and compensation committees are increasingly scrutinizing CEO pay to ensure it doesn’t get too far ahead of other key employees.
The median CFO total compensation for 2004 was $290,000, including a base salary of $187,000. That’s up 6 percent on 2003. And the bigger the asset size of the financial institution, the bigger the CFO’s paycheck. Median total compensation for chief operating officers was $514,000 in 2004, up 15 percent on 2003. Median base salary for chief operating officers was $260,000, up 4 percent on 2003.
The trend toward compensation plans that include a wider variety of pay components is being used by financial institutions to attract and retain talented executives. The rationale is, of course, that by retaining top talent, a company is better able to deliver strong returns to shareholders.
