10 years after crisis, bank CEO pay swells again 

10 years after crisis, bank CEO pay swells again

Ten years after Wall Street recklessness helped lead to the Great Recession, compensation for top bank CEOs is soaring even as pay flattens at junior levels. Compensation figures released so far by large banks this year suggest a rich season for CEOs, despite myriad worries for markets, including slowing global growth, trade wars and Brexit uncertainty. Compensation for Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank by assets, hit $31 million in 2018, up 5.1 percent from last year and his highest pay since the 2008 financial crisis. At Morgan Stanley, Chief Executive James Gorman will take home $29 million, up seven percent. Final pay numbers are expected in the coming days from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. The biggest six US banks last year reported a record $117.6 billion in profits, with JPMorgan notching its highest-ever annual income of $32.5 billion and Morgan Stanley also a new peak at $8.2 billion. Compensation varies for everyday employees of the financial heavyweights but even the more generous boosts do not reach the CEO pay bumps thus far. Pay among JPMorgan’s 256,000 employees rose an average of 4.4 percent, while compensation for Morgan Stanley’s 60,300 workers dipped two percent, according to an analysis published over the weekend by the Financial Times.

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