CEO pay ratios decline at majority of top 20 US banks in 2023

Most of the 20 largest US public banks by total assets in 2023 reported lower CEO pay ratios compared to the previous year, according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Top 20 banks

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported the highest CEO pay ratio among the banks included in the analysis. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon's total adjusted compensation in 2023 was $35.1 million, which is 366 times higher than the median employee salary at the company of $95,988.

The ratio dropped 27.0 percentage points from the prior year as the median employee salary grew 8.2%, while Dimon's compensation increased 0.7%. Dimon remained the highest-paid US bank CEO in 2023.

Citigroup Inc.'s CEO pay ratio was the second highest at 360x, up 3.0 percentage points year over year, and Wells Fargo & Co.'s ratio followed at 325x, up 1.0%.

The rest of the five biggest banks, Bank of America Corp. and U.S. Bancorp, recorded ratios of 230x and 259x, down 28.0 percentage points and up 65.0 percentage points, respectively.

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First Horizon Corp. recorded the largest increase in its CEO pay ratio, which came in at 198x, up 85.0 percentage points. CEO D. Bryan Jordan's compensation rose 80.2% to $13.0 million in 2023, while the median employee salary at the company ticked up only 3.0% to $66,007.

The remaining banks in the top 20 that logged higher CEO pay ratios were KeyCorp and Fifth Third Bancorp, with ratios of 127x and 142x, versus 120x and 130x, respectively, a year ago. Within the group, only M&T Bank Corp.'s ratio was flat year over year at 111x.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s CEO pay ratio declined 85.0 percentage points to 191x, the largest decline among the top 20 banks. The drop comes as the median employee salary at the company rose 47.9% to $104,576, while CEO William Demchak's pay ticked up 2.4% to $20.0 million.

CEO pay ratios also fell by 39.0 percentage points to 114x at Truist Financial Corp.; by 20.0 percentage points to 64x at Comerica Inc.; and by 20.0 percentage points to 70x at New York Community Bancorp Inc.

Median employee compensation ranges

Among US public banks with at least $20 billion in assets based on GAAP filings for the 2023 fiscal year, the median CEO pay ratio was 78x, which was the ratio at Western Alliance Bancorp. The median employee compensation was $74,287, which is that of Citizens Financial Group Inc.

The CEO pay ratio of 36x at Customers Bancorp Inc. and Fulton Financial Corp. was the smallest among the banks in the analysis.

Bank of America Corp.'s median employee compensation of $124,221 was the highest among the banks, while Home BancShares Inc.'s median employee compensation of $38,695 was the lowest.