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After experiencing resounding rejections of their executive compensation plans in "Say on Pay" votes in 2011, four community banks — Umpqua, Lakeland Financial, The First of Long Island and Chemical Financial — got busy implementing innovating pay policies.
April 27 -
Proxy advisory firms want shareholders to reject compensation plans at three banks' meetings the week of April 29: Sterling Bancorp, Sandy Spring Bancorp and Orrstown Financial. Investors have voted against pay at a handful of banks this year, but these meetings could show if a trend is brewing.
April 27 -
Arnold Schwarzenegger said, when he was first elected as governor of California, that he wanted to "blow up the boxes" of the state bureaucracy.
April 26 -
Most shareholders are not activists. Relatively few voice displeasure over executive pay, or other issues such as reappointment of ineffective audit firms. About the only thing they do wake up for is to complain about poor dividends.
April 25 -
Annual meetings held by Citi and Bank of New York Mellon have been shaken by investor dissent over executive pay, and observers anticipate more rebukes in the coming month.
April 20 -
Large buildups of options granted over the years to the bosses at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase could serve as an incentive to make riskier plays than at B of A and Citi.
April 17 -
Citigroup's shareholders have latched onto what was formerly a radical idea. Namely, that CEOs like Vikram Pandit should receive gigantic pay packages tied to performance only after they've actually performed. Wall Street bosses beware.
April 18
The fortunes of bank chief executives and stockholders moved in opposite directions in 2011, with CEO pay climbing a median 16% from a year earlier, even as
The pay increases extended to banks of all asset sizes, according to
The median pay gain was the largest at the 127 institutions with less than $20 billion in assets, at 15.9%. That compared with 12.1% at 15 firms with more than $100 billion in assets. (CEOs who assumed posts in 2010 or 2011 were excluded from data for aggregate year-over-year changes since promotions and hirings can produce large pay swings.)
Small-bank gains did little to narrow the gap between their pay and typical packages for counterparts at bigger institutions. Median pay for the small banks was $1.1 million in fiscal 2011, versus $14.3 million at the biggest institutions.
Big banks had the widest
All told, CEO pay consumed 0.1% of total salaries and benefits at banks with more than $100 billion in assets, compared with 2.1% at banks with assets of less than $20 billion. That may be another reason for community banks to consider mergers.
Bucking the averages, certain CEOs' pay swung sharply up or down.
BOK Financial (BOKF) CEO Stanley Lybarger's compensation fell by more than half from the previous year to
Citigroup (NYSE:C) CEO Vikram Pandit was the beneficiary of the largest increase in pay, with a package that
In granting Pandit's outsize pay increase, the board considered Citi's "
