Executive pay in public for-profit organizations can vary drastically depending on a variety of factors, including the organizational size and scope, as well as the industries in which they operate. However, unlike many other jobs, geography plays little role in compensation for top executives. Regardless, CEOs are typically (though not always) the highest-paid executives at many organizations.
For the purposes of this examination, base salary serves as the metric since it is predetermined and the most fixed among the various forms of executive compensation. Other pay, defined as excess benefits and perquisites greater than $10,000, is the second most common form of CEO compensation and is also included in the table below. Bonus, nonequity, stock, options, and pension are not included.
The following is a summary of top CEO pay in banking and finance industries broken into two major groupings. Industries are defined using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, as indicated by the organization. For every CEO, compensation is restricted to the organization’s primary SIC code to prevent duplicate entries. Learn more about top CEOs in different industries, such as the top 10 highest-paid CEOs in health care or the highest-paid CEOs in tech.
Below are two separate tables for banking organizations (SIC 60xx) and organizations engaged in investment and finance (SIC 61xx, 62xx, 67xx).
Top 10 CEO Base Salary in Banking
| Company | Name | Title | Salary | Other Pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citigroup Inc | Paco Ybarra | CEO, Institutional Clients Group | $8,355,669 | $9,417,658 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co | Daniel Pinto | Co-President, Co-CEO, CEO of the Corporate and Investment Bank and CEO of Europe | $8,240,290 | $14,306,896 |
| Wells Fargo & Co | Charles Scharf | Director, CEO and President | $2,500,000 | $17,892,046 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co | James Dimon | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,500,000 | $30,164,554 |
| Bank of America Corporation | Brian Moynihan | Chairman of the Board, President and CEO | $1,500,000 | $24,440,571 |
| Citigroup Inc | Michael Corbat | Director, CEO | $1,500,000 | $21,484,090 |
| TFS Financial Corp | Marc Stefanski | Chairman of the Board, President and CEO | $1,500,000 | $3,229,853 |
| Citizens Financial Group Inc | Bruce Van Saun | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,487,000 | $12,848,323 |
| New York Community Bancorp Inc | Joseph Ficalora | Director and CEO; President of the Company and Commercial Bank | $1,400,000 | $3,695,874 |
| East West Bancorp Inc | Dominic Ng | Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Company and the Bank | $1,275,000 | $5,658,775 |
Top 10 CEO Base Salary in Investment and Finance
| Company | Name | Title | Salary | Other Pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GCM Grosvenor Inc | Michael Sacks | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $3,700,000 | $282,540 |
| Sculptor Capital Management Inc | Robert Shafir | Executive Managing Director, CEO and Director | $2,000,000 | $8,145,682 |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc | David Solomon | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $2,000,000 | $21,686,467 |
| Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc | Peter Carlino | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,808,468 | $9,857,295 |
| General American Investors Company Inc | Jeffrey Priest | President, CEO and Director | $1,750,000 | $78,000 |
| Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc | Mahesh Aditya | Director President and CEO | $1,550,000 | $892,106 |
| BlackRock Inc | Laurence Fink | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,500,000 | $25,856,432 |
| Icahn Enterprises LP | Keith Cozza | President, CEO and Director | $1,500,000 | $5,011,588 |
| CME Group Inc | Terrence Duffy | Executive Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,500,000 | $14,618,467 |
| American Express Co | Stephen Squeri | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,500,000 | $22,721,319 |
When taken as a whole, total compensation packages for the top executive employees vary considerably across organizations. This is due to a variety of complex factors that include market values, vesting time tables, and other variable-related compensation that are often difficult to compare. However, as can be seen, finance and banking CEO salaries, though considerably large, tend to be more consistent.
