Updated April 2026 · SEC DEF 14A data
Highest Paid Bank CEOs, 2024
The 6 highest-paid CEOs at U.S. commercial and investment banks, ranked by reported total compensation from the SEC Summary Compensation Table. The cohort averages $18.9M in fiscal-year compensation, with packages dominated by long-term equity tied to multi-year return on tangible common equity (ROTCE) and total shareholder return targets.
What This Ranking Shows
U.S. banking is one of the most heavily regulated compensation sectors. Under Section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Act, large banks must structure incentive pay to avoid encouraging excessive risk-taking — which in practice means mandatory multi-year deferrals, performance-vesting on the majority of equity awards, robust clawback policies for restated financials or risk-management failures, and explicit ROTCE-relative-to-peers performance metrics. Stock options, once a meaningful slice of bank-CEO pay, have largely disappeared in favor of performance share units (PSUs).
Headline compensation at the top of this ranking is overwhelmingly long-term equity. Base salary at a top-five U.S. bank rarely exceeds $2M; the rest of the package is annual cash incentive (paid against a balanced scorecard) and equity grants vesting over three to four years. The structure produces sharp year-to-year volatility in reported pay when PSU performance periods conclude or when one-time retention grants vest, even when underlying base-and-target compensation is steady.
All figures come from each bank’s most recent SEC EDGAR DEF 14A proxy filing. Authoritative governance context: Federal Reserve SR letters on incentive compensation, ISS banking-sector vote analyses, and the Basel Committee compensation principles. Read the full methodology for inputs and how the Pay-for-Performance Grade is computed.
Top 6 Highest-Paid Bank CEOs
| # | CEO | Bank | Industry | Total Comp | Pay Ratio | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Moynihan | Bank of AmericaBAC | Banks | $30.0M | 462:1 | D |
| 2 | David Solomon | Goldman SachsGS | Investment Banking | $27.6M | 230:1 | B |
| 3 | Ted Pick | Morgan StanleyMS | Investment Banking | $15.4M | 128:1 | A |
| 4 | Jamie Dimon | JPMorgan ChaseJPM | Banks | $15.0M | 231:1 | B |
| 5 | Jane Fraser | CitigroupC | Banks | $13.3M | 205:1 | A |
| 6 | Charlie Scharf | Wells FargoWFC | Banks | $12.0M | 185:1 | C |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the highest-paid bank CEO?
Brian Moynihan of Bank of America leads U.S. banking with $30.0M in reported total compensation in the most recent fiscal year, as disclosed in the company's SEC DEF 14A proxy statement. Banking-CEO compensation is typically dominated by long-term equity awards (RSUs and PSUs) tied to multi-year return on tangible common equity (ROTCE) and total shareholder return targets.
How does bank-CEO pay compare to non-banking CEOs?
Bank CEOs in this ranking average $18.9M in total compensation, broadly comparable to other large-cap S&P 500 CEOs once adjusted for company size. Banking compensation is more heavily regulated than most sectors: under the Dodd-Frank Act and Federal Reserve guidance, large banks must defer a meaningful portion of incentive compensation, claw it back if losses materialize, and avoid structures that encourage excessive risk-taking. Say-on-pay scrutiny tends to be heavier than in non-financial sectors.
What pay-package structures are typical for bank CEOs?
Three components dominate. (1) Base salary — usually $1.5M–$2M for the CEO of a top-five U.S. bank, a small fraction of the headline total. (2) Annual cash incentive — paid against a balanced scorecard of financial (net income, ROTCE, efficiency ratio) and non-financial (risk, regulatory, customer) goals. (3) Long-term equity — typically a mix of time-vested RSUs (25–40% of grant) and performance-vested PSUs (60–75%) with three-year performance periods, ROTCE-relative-to-peers as the dominant metric, and TSR as a modifier. Stock options are now rare in bank CEO packages.
Are bank CEOs subject to special compensation rules?
Yes. Section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Act directed banking regulators (Federal Reserve, OCC, FDIC, NCUA, SEC, FHFA) to issue rules limiting incentive-based compensation arrangements that "could lead to material financial loss" at financial institutions with $1 billion or more in assets. The proposed rule has been in various states of revision since 2011 and 2016; in practice, the largest banks already apply mandatory deferral, clawback, and risk-balancing requirements consistent with Federal Reserve SR letters and international Basel guidance.
Where does this data come from?
Every figure on this page comes from each bank's most recent SEC DEF 14A proxy statement, available on the SEC EDGAR system. The Summary Compensation Table inside the filing reports total compensation under FASB ASC 718 grant-date fair value for equity awards. Pay-for-Performance Grades are computed using the four-factor framework documented on the methodology page.
Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, DEF 14A proxy filings via EDGAR. Public domain.
Last updated 2026-04-06 · banks and investment banks tracked by CEOPayWatch.