Citigroup's CFO Mark Mason reclaims spot as highest-paid bank CFO in 2022

After losing his position to Bank of America Corp.'s Alastair Borthwick in 2021, Citigroup Inc. CFO Mark Mason retook the spot as the highest-paid CFO in the US banking industry in 2022. Mason's total adjusted compensation was about $15 million, a 12.6% increase year over year, with stock awards of over $7.2 million and cash compensation of $6.2 million.

Wells Fargo & Co. CFO Michael Santomassimo jumped to the second spot from fourth a year earlier. The executive received total adjusted compensation of $12.8 million in 2022, a 6.8% increase over 2021. The majority of Santomassimo's compensation came via $7.9 million in stock grants, the second-highest sum awarded to a CFO across US banks in 2022.

Bank of America's Borthwick dropped two spots to the third position with total adjusted compensation of $12.6 million, an 11.8% decrease from the previous year. This decrease can be attributed to the drop in cash compensation to $4.8 million in 2022 from $8.2 million in 2021.

Among large banks

Among CFOs at US banks between $50 billion and $500 billion in assets, KeyCorp's Donald Kimble took the top spot with total adjusted compensation of $5.5 million, a 9% decrease from his 2021 earnings. This decrease was a result of a drop in stock awards to $2.2 million from $2.6 million.

Despite a 10.4% year-over-year decrease in his total pay, John Woods of Citizens Financial Group Inc. jumped a spot to second with total adjusted compensation of $4.3 million.

Meanwhile, SVB Financial Group's Daniel Beck was the seventh-most highly compensated CFO among banks between $50 billion and $500 billion in assets, with total compensation of $3.6 million in 2022. Beck also served as the CFO for Silicon Valley Bank, which failed March 10.

Among banks between $1B and $50B in assets

Among US banks with assets ranging from $10 billion to $50 billion, Harold Carpenter of Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. was the highest-paid CFO following a near doubling of his total adjusted compensation, thanks to a $2.4 million increase in stock awards year over year to $3.3 million.

Banc of California Inc. CFO Lynn Hopkins was the highest-paid CFO among banks with $1 billion to $10 billion in assets at $2.2 million. On July 25, Banc of California announced a merger with PacWest Bancorp.

At small banks

Jonathan Logan of William Penn Bancorp., received $1.2 million in adjusted total compensation in fiscal 2022, a nearly 400% increase year over year, making him the highest-paid CFO among banks with less than $1 billion in assets. In the previous fiscal year, William Penn completed a second-stage mutual-to-stock conversion.