Survey on executive pay in financial services companies

Banking CEOs received median base salaries of €1.15m according to Mercer’s Pan-European Financial Services Executive Compensation Guide. The survey also showed that bonus payouts of 164 per cent of base salary were made in 2007, taking their median annual total cash compensation to €2.7m and the total direct compensation including long-term incentives to €4.3m.

The survey covered 53 job positions and 1,250 executives at 35 top multinational banking and insurance companies, and focused on bonus payouts and long-term incentive grants made in 2007.

Banking CEOs received median bonus payments of 164 per cent of base salary in 2007 (up from 121 per cent in 2006), while insurance CEOs received 140 per cent of base salary (up from 101 per cent in 2006).

Vicki Elliott, worldwide partner and Mercer’s global financial services industry leader, “As part of a broader trend across Europe, remuneration for financial services executives has become more linked to performance. The recent turmoil in financial services share prices means that share plans will have more value to executives than stock options. Many financial services companies use more than one long term incentive plan to balance achievement of financial performance goals with stock market volatility.”