It’s too early to blame tariffs or any presumed Mark Carney bump.

Compensation increases for CEOs at Canada’s Big Six banks largely outpaced their peers in the U.S. for 2024.

Royal Bank of Canada CEO Dave McKay, for example, saw a 60.9% jump in compensation last year, compared with 2023. Much of that can be credited to a C$4 million special equity award connected to closing the bank’s acquisition of HSBC’s Canadian footprint last spring.

All in all, McKay received C$24,493,000 ($17 million) in 2024, according to RBC’s proxy circular, published Thursday. That compares with C$15,221,000 ($10.5 million) a year earlier.

Broken down, McKay saw a base salary of C$2 million – itself a raise over C$1.5 million in 2023; a short-term incentive of C$6,668,000; mid- and long-term incentives of C$11,825,000. The short-term figure was 67% higher than McKay’s C$4 million target for 2024 because the bank’s adjusted net income for the year exceeded its own target by C$700 million, RBC said.

McKay’s special equity award is set to vest in December 2027 and is linked to strategic cost and earnings objectives throughout a three-year span. But the 60.9% compensation bump is nearly double, percentage-wise, the highest comparable increase by a CEO at a U.S.-based systemically important bank. Citi CEO Jane Fraser saw her compensation spike 33% to $34.5 million in 2024.

It could be argued that Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick’s 2024 compensation jumped 41.7% over what he saw in 2023, minus the $20 million one-time incentive he and the bank’s other two CEO candidates received that year. But if McKay’s C$4 million incentive counts here, so does Pick’s. (Counting that $20 million incentive, Pick’s 2023 compensation jumps to more than $44 million, meaning his 2024 pay represents a 22.8% decrease.)

Canada’s largest bank isn’t the only one giving a monster raise to its CEO. The smallest of Canada’s Big Six – National Bank of Canada – gave its top executive, Laurent Ferreira, a 34.6% year-over-year compensation boost in 2024. Ferreira received C$11,425,050 ($7.9 million) last year, compared with C$8,490,036 in 2023, according to its proxy circular. National Bank’s acquisition of Calgary-based Canadian Western Bank, announced last June and completed in February, played heavily in the compensation decision, along with Ferreira’s “individual performance,” the bank said.

The lesson, then – with an eye toward the RBC-HSBC transaction, too – might be: Want a big raise? Acquire a bank. So it stands to reason that Scotiabank, which acquired a 14.99% share of Cleveland-based KeyBank in 2024, also would have given its CEO, Scott Thomson, a heftier haul for the year.

Thomson received C$9,760,000 ($6.8 million) for 2024, according to the bank’s proxy circular, released Friday. That marks a 26.6% jump over the C$7,707,808 he saw in 2023. He stands to receive a comparable bump in compensation in 2025 – nearly 21%, to C$11.5 million – if he hits the targets Scotia has set for him.

"Under Thomson's leadership, Scotiabank has successfully laid the groundwork necessary to execute our vision to deliver profitable and sustainable growth," the bank said in its circular.

But Scotia’s strategy is not just one of growth – it’s of optimization. While the KeyBank transaction may represent massive potential, Scotia also saw an impairment loss when taking a 20% stake in another bank – Colombia’s Davivienda. The strategy – partial acquisitions – is at least consistent. Time will tell if the Key deal suffers from souring Canada-U.S. relations.

By the numbers, while McKay and Ferreira saw larger raises by percentage than Fraser, Thomson’s raise outpaced the second-biggest gainer among U.S. big-bank CEOs, David Solomon. The Goldman Sachs chief executive received a 25.8% pay boost in 2024 ($80 million retention bonus notwithstanding).

One Canadian bank that didn’t execute a business-transforming transaction still gave its CEO a 22.4% compensation bump in 2024. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CEO Victor Dodig received C$13.1 million ($9.1 million) for the year, the bank said in its circular. That’s 19% above the C$11 million the bank set for him. For reference, the bank gave Dodig the same target in 2023, but he came in under, at C$10.7 million.

Again, by comparison, Dodig’s 22.4% year-over-year gain outstrips the third-largest raise among U.S. big-bank CEOs. Brian Moynihan’s compensation as the top executive at Bank of America increased 21% in 2024.

Notably, apart from the $20 million anomaly at Morgan Stanley, none of the CEOs at the U.S.’s six largest systemically important banks saw a decrease in compensation. (JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s pay rose 8.3% to $39 million in 2024, while Wells Fargo’s Charlie Scharf saw a 7.6% uptick to $31.2 million.)

The same can’t be said for big-bank CEOs in Canada. BMO gave its CEO, Darryl White, C$9.62 million ($6.7 million) for 2024 – down 14.2% from C$11,218,000 in 2023, according to the bank’s proxy circular. BMO said White “delivered exceptional leadership” but that the compensation committee set its funding level for top executives’ variable pay at 80% of target, noting that the bank “respond[ed] effectively to unplanned challenges.”

Just as U.S. big-bank CEOs have an outlier in Pick, Canadians have theirs in now-former TD CEO Bharat Masrani.

Masrani, who stepped down in February, received no cash incentive award or equity compensation in 2024, bringing his total pay for the year to $1.5 million -- an 89% dip from the $13.3 million he received in 2023. The precipitous drop came after the bank took more than $3 billion in penalties from a spate of U.S. regulators after investigations found deficiencies in its anti-money laundering practices.

TD isn’t the only bank to have clawed back compensation from members of its C-suite. Among the executives for whom RBC published compensation information last week is former CFO Nadine Ahn.

The bank dismissed Ahn last April, alleging she had an undisclosed relationship with another RBC executive. Ahn denied the allegations, and both executives sued RBC. The bank has filed counterclaims against each.

Ahn received C$312,603 for 2024, down from C$4.2 million a year earlier.

“The board determined that certain incentive compensation payments be reimbursed by Ms. Ahn to the bank,” RBC said in its proxy, adding that the “final determination of amounts to be paid relating to Ms. Ahn’s termination (if any) remain unresolved.”