Without his one-time $20 million sign-on bonus, Morgan Stanley wealth and investment head Andy Saperstein saw his compensation take a big drop in 2024.
But Saperstein still made a healthy $27 million for his first full year in his new position, according to a proxy statement Morgan Stanley filed on Friday. Saperstein was named a co-president and head of wealth and investment management in late 2023, after being in the running for the CEO position.
But disregarding the 2023 staking award, Saperstein's compensation last year was up nearly 26%. His pay for 2024 consisted of a $1 million base salary, a nearly $9.9 million cash bonus and $16.1 million in stock awards, which were granted in January this year.
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Morgan Stanley credited Saperstein in the proxy statement for a year that saw the wealth management division's net revenue rise 9% to $28.4 billion and its profits by 18% to $7.7 billion. The unit also made progress toward its long-held goal of bringing its pretax margin up to 30%. That margin — the percentage of revenue left over once expenses are subtracted — rose from 25% in 2023 to 27.2% at the end of last year.
Taken together, the wealth and investment management unit also made progress toward another long-standing goal: reaching $10 trillion in assets under management. The unit ended 2024 with
Along with those results, the proxy praised Saperstein for "modernizing and innovating technology to assist clients and employees, including launching more leading generative Artificial Intelligence capabilities in Wealth Management and enhancing technology capabilities for Parametric in Investment Management."
Pay raises also went to the other four executives named in Morgan Stanley's proxy statement Friday. Topping the list was CEO Pick,
Morgan Stanley declined to comment on the proxy report.
Schwab gives Bettinger big CEO comp send-off
Meanwhile on Friday, Charles Schwab rewarded its recently retired CEO Walt Bettinger with a 10% increase in compensation for 2024, bringing the total to $26.4 million. Bettinger stepped down at the end of last year after leading the firm since 2008.
His 2024 compensation consisted of a base salary of $1.5 million, $10.95 million in stock awards, $7.3 million in option awards, $6.6 million in nonequity incentives and $18,460 in other forms of compensation.
Schwab's proxy says the median compensation for employees of the firm last year was $125,038. That means Bettinger outearned them at a ratio of 211 to 1.
Bettinger's 2024 compensation came for a year in which
Schwab noted in its proxy report that its annual net revenue was $5.2 billion when he took the helm 16 years previously, and its asset tally was $1.1 trillion. The number of brokerage accounts it manages increased under his leadership from 7.4 million to 36.5 million.
"Under Mr. Bettinger's leadership, the company grew dramatically, becoming one of the largest and most trusted financial services companies in the country," according to the proxy.
Bettinger's successor as CEO, former Schwab president Rick Wurster, also saw a pay bump for 2024. His compensation was up by about 12% year over year to over $12.5 million.
Schwab's strong results also meant pay increases for other executives. Former Chief Financial Officer Peter Crawford, who also retired last year, saw his compensation increase by 12% year over year to $5.6 million. And co-chairman Charles Schwab, the firm's founder and namesake, saw a nearly 15% increase to $8.6 million. Meanwhile, former Chief Operating Officer Joseph Martinetto, now executive chairperson of Schwab Banks, saw his pay more or less hold steady at $9.1 million.
