CEO pay ratios rose year over year at 15 of the 20 largest public U.S. banks by total assets, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.
Top 20 banks
In 2021, JPMorgan Chase & Co. logged the highest CEO pay ratio among banks in the analysis, with CEO Jamie Dimon's $84.4 million pay package coming in 917x higher than the company's median employee salary of $92,112.
The ratio represented a large jump from 2020 when Dimon made 395x the median employee salary. Dimon's 2021 total adjusted compensation was up 166.7% from the previous year, enabling the executive to retain his position as the highest-paid U.S. bank CEO.
First Horizon Corp. saw the second-highest increase in pay ratio year over year following a rise in CEO D. Bryan Jordan's pay to $7.5 million from $5.6 million and a drop in the median employee compensation to $61,465 from $95,881. The chief executive made 123x the median employee salary in 2021, an increase of 112.1% year over year. The bank is in a pending sale to Toronto-Dominion Bank.
CEO pay ratios also ticked up 5.8% at Wells Fargo & Co. to 290x; 3.2% at U.S. Bancorp to 225x; and 13.1% at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. to 224x.
Meanwhile, Citizens Financial Group Inc. booked the biggest decline in pay ratio in 2021 as CEO Bruce Van Saun's pay decreased to $12.4 million from $14.3 million and the median employee salary rose to $82,418 from $69,582. As such, the executive's pay ratio was 151x the median employee salary, down 26.7% year over year.
Citigroup Inc., the bank that booked the highest CEO pay ratio in 2020, saw a year-over-year decline in the ratio in 2021. CEO Jane Fraser's pay package was $20.5 million, compared to former CEO Michael Corbat's $23.0 million in 2020. The median employee salary increased modestly to $55,285 from $54,718.
Fraser's 2021 compensation was 372x the median employee salary during that year while Corbat's 2020 compensation was 420x the median employee salary during that year.
At Bank of America Corp., the pay ratio was 232x, a decrease from 274x in 2020. The decline was due to a drop in CEO Brian Moynihan's pay package to $23.7 million from $26.0 million and an increase in median employee compensation to $102,497 from $94,866.
* Read the S&P Global Market Intelligence Executive Compensation Review for U.S. banks and thrifts as per GICS classification.
* Download template for U.S. bank and thrift executive compensation peer analysis.
CEO pay ratio, median employee compensation ranges
Among public U.S. banks with a CEO in the role for the full year and at least $20 billion in assets as of June 30, 2022, the 2021 median CEO pay ratio was 83x and the median employee compensation was $70,522.
The CEO pay ratio of 42x at WSFS Financial Corp. was the lowest among the banks that were part of the analysis, while the ratio at JPMorgan was the highest.
Home BancShares Inc.'s median employee compensation of $37,831 was the lowest in the group. The highest was First Republic Bank's median employee salary of $162,300.
