Dive Brief:
- Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick received $34 million in compensation for 2024, his first year as chief executive, the bank said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday.
- That compares with more than $44 million in 2023, but that total included a $20 million one-time bonus connected to his ascent to the CEO role.
- By comparison, former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman received $37 million in 2023, becoming the highest-paid chief executive among the six largest U.S.-based systemically important financial institutions.
Dive Insight:
Pick’s $34 million, presumably, will make him the fourth-best-paid CEO at the top six banks, behind Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who each received $39 million in 2024, and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, who received $35 million.
Wells Fargo paid CEO Charlie Scharf $31.2 million for 2024. Citi has yet to disclose its 2024 compensation for CEO Jane Fraser. That’s expected by the end of this month.
Morgan Stanley’s compensation committee based Pick’s pay package on the bank’s financial performance, which it said included a 14% year-over-year boost in net revenue to $61.8 billion, a 49% year-over-year jump in pretax profit (to $17.6 billion) and a return on tangible common equity of 18.8%.
Additionally, Morgan Stanley’s market cap surpassed $200 billion over the course of the year; its common equity tier 1 capital ratio jumped to 15.9%; and the bank raised its quarterly dividend to 92.5 cents per share, it said.
The committee also cited Pick’s “successful completion of the leadership transition” from the Gorman years. In addition to serving as CEO, Pick became chair of Morgan Stanley’s board Jan. 1, the bank noted.
Morgan Stanley did not specify Pick’s 2024 salary, though it noted in January 2024 that his salary increased to $1.5 million from $1 million. Additionally, 75% of Pick’s bonus is deferred over three years – and 60% is delivered in performance-vested equity, the bank disclosed Thursday.
