Which big bank CEOs got hefty pay raises in 2023?

February 13, 2024 9:00 PM

In 2021, the chief executive officers at large and regional U.S. banks got a median pay raise of 21.5%. The following year, bank CEO pay climbed by 7%.

It's still too early to say what the industrywide trend was last year, when banks navigated a 10-week-long crisis. Many lenders, including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, have yet to file the relevant disclosures on executive compensation.

But in recent weeks, five large U.S. banks have said how much money their CEOs were paid last year. Their disclosures shed early light on how the compensation committees of bank boards made pay decisions at the end of a tumultuous year.

What follows is a look at how much the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Capital One Financial were paid in 2023, based on the banks' own reporting and an analysis by the consulting firm Compensation Advisory Partners.

The CEOs who got the biggest raises are listed first.

Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg

Charlie Scharf, Wells Fargo

2022 total compensation: $24.5 million
2023 total compensation: $29 million
Change: +18.4%

Scharf, who's now been Wells Fargo's CEO for more than four years, got a hefty raise last year after his pay remained flat between 2021 and 2022.

In explaining Scharf's 2023 pay, Wells cited what it characterized as the company's improved financial performance. The bank reported net income of $19.1 billion last year, up 40% from a year earlier.

The megabank's board also credited Scharf in a securities filing with bringing a "sustained focus to strengthening the company's risk and control infrastructure, with significant progress over the last year." The scandal-plagued bank continues to operate under a $1.9 trillion asset cap that was imposed by the Federal Reserve in 2018.

Another factor in Scharf's favor was what Wells' board described as his leadership in enabling the San Francisco-based bank to be a "source of strength during the 2023 regional banking crisis."

Still, Wells said that Scharf's total compensation was $1.3 million lower than it would have been if the company's board had not exercised "negative discretion" to depart from the formula used in its executive compensation program.

Scharf had asked the board to exercise such discretion in order to "emphasize that more work remains ahead," the bank said in its securities filing.

The 18.4% increase in Scharf's total compensation was comparable to an 18.2% rise in Wells Fargo's stock price during 2023.

James Gorman, Morgan Stanley

2022 total compensation: $31.5 million
2023 total compensation: $37 million
Change: +17.5%

Gorman's final year as Morgan Stanley's CEO was particularly lucrative, especially compared with 2022, when he got a 10% pay cut.

At the beginning of 2023, the compensation committee of Morgan Stanley's board of directors had established a wide target range for Gorman's pay. For strong performance that exceeded expectations, the range was $40 million or more. For performance that fell below expectations, it was $20 million or less.

Gorman ultimately received compensation near the top end of the range for 2023. Then on Jan. 1, 2024, he became Morgan Stanley's executive chairman, and Ted Pick took over as CEO.

"The compensation committee based its decision of Mr. Gorman's 2023 compensation on its assessment of Mr. Gorman's outstanding performance, including his exemplary execution of CEO succession and the transition of leadership and the resolution of many outstanding legal and regulatory matters," the bank said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Morgan Stanley's stock price rose by 9.3% in 2023, but its net income fell by 17% to $9.1 billion.

In explaining Gorman's 2023 pay, the Wall Street bank also cited performance metrics for his entire 14-year tenure as CEO. Since 2010, when Gorman took the reins, Morgan Stanley's stock price has more than tripled, and its market capitalization has risen from $40 billion to $153 billion, the bank said.

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase

2022 total compensation: $34.5 million
2023 total compensation: $36 million
Change: +4.3%

During a year in which the nation's largest bank got even bigger — largely as a result of its acquisition of the failed First Republic Bank — Dimon's pay rose by $1.5 million.

"The annual compensation for 2023 reflects Mr. Dimon's stewardship of the firm, with growth across all of its market-leading lines of business, record financial results and a fortress balance sheet," JPMorgan Chase said in a securities filing.

"In addition, the firm successfully navigated and supported its clients and customers through the regional bank turmoil as well as completed the acquisition of First Republic."

Between 2022 and 2023, JPMorgan's net income rose by 32% to $49.6 billion. Its return on tangible common equity climbed from 18% to 21%. And its stock price climbed by 20.6%.

The previous year, Dimon's total compensation had stayed flat at $34.5 million. That pay decision came after JPMorgan's shareholders expressed discontent with a one-time, $52.6 million award of stock options to Dimon.

Richard Fairbank, Capital One Financial

2022 total compensation: $26.1 million
2023 total compensation: $26.5 million
Change: +1.5%

Fairbank's 2023 pay package included a $5 million cash bonus that is deferred for three years. He also received performance share awards with an approximate aggregate value of $16.8 million and restricted stock units with a grant date value of $4.7 million.

In a recent securities filing, Capital One did not detail the factors that board members considered when determining Fairbank's 2023 compensation. More information is expected to be provided later in the company's annual proxy statement.

Capital One's stock price rose by 41.5% last year. But amid rising charge-offs in the company's flagship domestic credit card business, its net income fell by 33.6% to $4.89 billion.

Last month, Fairbank said that cardholders were falling into delinquency status in the same seasonal patterns that were evident before the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the post-pandemic worsening in credit quality appeared to have "run its course."

Brian Moynihan, Bank of America

2022 total compensation: $30 million
2023 total compensation: $29 million
Change: -3.3%

Moynihan's pay fell in 2023 for the second consecutive year. It totaled $32 million in 2021 before falling by 6% the following year, and then by 3% last year.

Still, Bank of America was generally laudatory in its explanation of its CEO's most recent pay package. "The board acknowledged the company's continued success in 2023 and Mr. Moynihan's leadership under this operating model particularly in this period of considerable economic uncertainty," the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said in an SEC filing.

BofA's full-year net income fell by 4% to $26.5 billion in 2023, though the company said that after excluding two notable items, its net income rose by 6% from the previous year. The bank's stock price fell by about 2% over the course of last year.

Moynihan's pay package consisted of a $1.5 million salary and $27.5 million in equity incentive compensation, half of which was performance restricted stock units, which vest only if BofA meets certain performance standards.