UPDATE 3-Canadian bank RBC lifts 2024 CEO pay goal, peers make no changes
(Recasts, adds details from CIBC, BMO and Scotiabank filings in paragraphs 5-11)
TORONTO, March 7 (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Canada set a total compensation target of C$17 million ($12.6 million) for CEO Dave McKay for 2024, about 12% more what he made last year, even as peers that have reported so far made no changes after their bosses missed 2023 goals.
RBC, the biggest of the banks, said it also awarded the head of its personal and commercial banking segment Neil McLaughlin a one-time special cash award of up to C$1.25 million for his role in the $10 billion acquisition of HSBC's Canada unit. The deal, the biggest in RBC's history, has secured all regulatory approvals and is set to completed by the end of March.
The board took into consideration that McKay is one of the longest tenured CEOs among the bank's Canadian and U.S. peers "with a proven track record of sustained performance," RBC said in a regulatory filing.
McKay, who has been the CEO since 2014, made a total of C$15.22 million in 2023, 9% above his 2023 target of C$14 million.
Those numbers contrasted with his peers at Bank of Montreal, CIBC and Bank of Nova Scotia where the boards kept 2024 compensation goals unchanged.
The proposed pay packages are set to voted by shareholders in next month's annual general meetings. TD Bank has not yet published its proxy circular.
South of the border, JPMorgan Chase gave CEO Jamie Dimon a 4% pay increase to $36 million for 2023, Morgan Stanley awarded Executive Chairman James Gorman a 17% bump to $37 million and Citigroup increased CEO Jane Fraser's compensation by about 6% to $26 million.
The 2023 Canadian bank pay packages reflected a challenging a year, when earnings growth was stunted by higher loan provisions, a tough M&A market and elevated costs.
Canada's third biggest bank by assets, Scotiabank, maintained CEO Scott Thomson's 2024 compensation target of C$9.5 million, which includes a base salary of C$1 million.
Thomson, who started as CEO in February last year, made C$9.38 million in 2023, including pension and other benefits of about C$1 million that also took into account his relocation to Toronto from Vancouver.
CIBC CEO Victor Dodig's 2024 target compensation has been set at C$11 million, the same as 2023, when he earned a total of C$10.7 million.
BMO CEO Darryl White's total 2024 compensation is unchanged, set for C$11.75 million, compared with the C$11.2 million he made last year.
"Through the year, greater instability in U.S. regional banking and more global economic uncertainty occurred than anticipated and BMO did not achieve its 2023 goals," the bank said in its circular.
($1 = 1.3457 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Editing by Nick Zieminski, David Gregorio and Jamie Freed)
