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The CEO compensation paid by the largest publicly traded firms in wealth management offers a lens into company performance, leadership transitions and, of course, eye-popping numbers.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon regained the top spot he had two years ago before losing the No. 1 position occupied in 2022 by Morgan Stanley’s former chief, James Gorman, according to the below ranking of 13 firms’ 2023 compensation for their head executives. The 13 companies paid their CEOs an average of $25.8 million after boosting their compensation by a mean of $2.1 million, with only four firms cutting top officials’ paychecks.
One-time awards to outgoing Raymond James CEO Paul Reilly as well as to Gorman’s successor at Morgan Stanley at the beginning of the year, Ted Pick, along with two executives seen as his main competitors for the role, led to big gains in compensation for them. Meanwhile, UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti took home the lowest pay of the group after returning in April to the position he held between 2011 and 2020.
Among financial advisors, such figures get “scrutinized and looked at a lot more on the wirehouse side” than at independent firms providing payouts of 85% or higher that leave them “in most cases feeling like the economics are pretty fair for what the firm is doing for them,” said Jodie Papike, CEO of Cross-Search Advisor Placement Services. In times of “really down markets,” the eight-figure compensation for CEOs may prompt advisors to say “wait a minute, we’re all struggling here, what is going on?” — especially at wirehouses, she said.
“An advisor is thinking about their compensation as it relates to their affiliation with that firm,” Papike said in an interview. “They may stop and think, ‘Gosh, are the economics fair, and what should they be for how much work I’m putting into this?’ In the independent world, I really don’t hear that being much of a consideration.”
Morgan Stanley and Raymond James gave a great deal of consideration in the form of large awards to Reilly, Pick and Morgan Stanley co-presidents Andy Saperstein and Daniel Simkowitz. The latter three executives each got a “one-time staking award” that carried “a grant value of $20 million and shareholder-aligned features,” according to the firm’s proxy statement.
“The staking awards support leadership continuity and will incentivize continued outstanding performance of the team during the transition period,” the statement said.
At Raymond James, Reilly received a “special one-time equity retention award” valued at $15 million in recognition of how the company “delivered record results and further enhanced its capabilities to serve the most sophisticated financial needs of its advisors and their clients” over his 12-year tenure, the firm’s proxy statement said.
“The committee determined that granting this special one-time equity retention award was in the best interests of the company and its shareholders and that the amount and terms of the award described herein were appropriate,” it said.
For a look at the CEO pay last year at 13 of the largest firms in wealth management, scroll down the slideshow. To see what the biggest firms paid their head executives in 2022, click here. And for a look at their 2021 compensation, follow this link.
Note: Each of the firms shared executive pay in their 2024 proxy statements or 2023 annual reports. Total compensation in standardized tables required by the Securities and Exchange Commission for a company’s named executive officers may vary from a firm’s “direct compensation” to its CEO or other measures disclosed in annual documents.