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 summary, base salary serves as the metric due to generally being 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. Bonus, non-equity, stock, options, and pension are not included below.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan Chase & Co | Daniel Pinto | President, COO and CEO, The Corporate and Investment Bank | $9,055,948 | $44,273,299 |
| Citigroup Inc | Paco Ybarra | CEO, Institutional Clients Group | $8,973,981 | $9,517,554 |
| Wells Fargo & Co | Charles Scharf | Director, CEO and President | $2,500,000 | $18,850,906 |
| Bank of America Corporation | Brian Moynihan | Chairman of the Board, President and CEO | $1,500,000 | $21,663,179 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co | James Dimon | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,500,000 | $82,928,145 |
| TFS Financial Corp | Marc Stefanski | Chairman of the Board, President and CEO | $1,500,000 | $3,251,324 |
| Citizens Financial Group Inc | Bruce Van Saun | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,487,000 | $10,943,076 |
| Citigroup Inc | Jane Fraser | Director and CEO | $1,333,333 | $19,207,991 |
| U.S. Bancorp | Andrew Cecere | Chairman of the Board, President and CEO | $1,200,000 | $17,966,276 |
| PNC Financial Services Group Inc | William Demchak | Chairman of the Board, President and CEO | $1,200,000 | $16,306,270 |
Fiscal Year 2021; SIC: 60xx
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 | $3,748,100 | $824,114 |
| General American Investors Company Inc | Jeffrey Priest | President, CEO and Director | $2,300,000 | $78,000 |
| 180 Degree Capital Corp | Kevin Rendino | Chairman of the Board, CEO and Portfolio Manager | $2,136,327 | $0 |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc | David Solomon | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $2,000,000 | $37,545,072 |
| Property Solutions Acquisition Corp | Carsten Breitfeld | Global CEO and Director | $1,908,333 | $5,994,647 |
| Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc | Peter Carlino | Principal Financial Officer, Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,808,468 | $11,598,970 |
| Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc | Mark Stoeckle | Director, President and CEO | $1,718,237 | $0 |
| BowX Acquisition Corp | Sandeep Mathrani | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,500,000 | $19,808,250 |
| Morgan Stanley | James Gorman | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,500,000 | $33,441,635 |
| BlackRock Inc | Laurence Fink | Chairman of the Board and CEO | $1,500,000 | $31,087,335 |
Fiscal Year 2021; SIC: 61xx, 62xx, 67xx
Compared to 2020, base salaries for seven of the top ten Chief Executive Officers in banking remained the same in 2021, while, for investment and finance, half (5) of the top ten remained the same. When taken on the 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 variables related to compensation that are often difficult to compare. However, as can be seen, base salaries, though considerably large, tend to be more consistent. Learn more about how executive compensation has changed in 2021 for the banking industry and more at ERI.
