Bankers, rich and lucky. Certainly well paid. Nine months have passed since his inauguration (it was April 1, 2023) and in such a short time the Swiss banking giant Ub has converted its CEO, Sergio Ermotti, into the highest paid in Europe. Last year in just three quarters the top manager earned 14.4 million francs (equal to approximately 14.7 million). The compensation is calculated over nine months, having taken over the leadership of the Swiss bank on April 1st, to lead the integration of Credit Suisse.
The predecessor
His predecessor Ralph Hamers had earned 12.6 million Swiss francs as CEO of the large bank in 2022. «According to the institute’s annual report, of Ermotti’s 14.4 million, 2.1 million constitute the fixed salary and 12 .3 million the variable part of the salary as a performance award”, records an article from Sun 24 Hours. A figure almost equal to the compensation received by the entire board, to which the Swiss bank paid, including subsidiary fees, 15.2 million francs.
References in Europe
Also very well paid are Ana Botin of Santander (11.7 million in 2022), Venkatakrishnan of Barclays (11 million). Christian Sewing of Deutsche Bank (9.9 million). During 2023, however, the CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, Carlo Messina, received compensation equal to just over 4 million euros as a fixed component (2.6 million euros, unchanged since 2016 and which will remain so this year too) and 1.4 million euros as the sum of the annual premiums from previous years. To this compensation, however, must be added the share component received, equal to 1.6 million euros, from previous incentive programs. Therefore, considering all the items, 5.7 million went to Messina.
The ranking in Italy
Followed in Italy by the number one of Banco Bpm, Giuseppe Castagna, whose total compensation, in 2023, should be around 3 million, and Piero Luigi Montani, CEO of Bper Banca, who, in 2022, appears to have obtained a salary of 1.15 million.
The choice of Goldman Sachs
In the United States, however, the news of the emolument of the investment bank Goldman Sachs has caused a lot of discussion. At the end of a year in which net profit fell by 24%, it decided to raise CEO David Solomon’s annual salary to $31 million with an increase of 24%. The board justified the increase in the various variable bonuses with the success of the bank’s strategic reorientation action, downsizing the retail banking projects. Solomon, who earned 25 million in 2022, will receive 31 million in 2023, divided as follows: 2 million basic salary to which is added a cash bonus of 8.7 million and a bonus in shares of 20.3 million.
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