NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The best-paid CEO in the financial sector last year headed a firm that didn't accept TARP funds, was profitable throughout the crisis and returned 13% to shareholders in 2009 -- including a dividend hike. Jay Fishman, CEO of Travelers Companies, was the best-paid financial CEO last year.
Does that mean Wall Street has finally gotten the message on executive pay? Well, that all depends on what the message is, and how long it's meant to be broadcast. At the start of 2009, golden parachutes had already been awarded to executives who left firms they nearly destroyed -- from Citigroup (C) to Merrill Lynch to AIG (AIG). Bonuses had already been granted to traders who one senator recently compared to a "pit boss in Las Vegas." The most high-profile example of bailout audacity in 2009, Citi's Andrew Hall, may have left the firm through the divestiture of Phibro, but he got to keep his $100 million pay package. Even the headline numbers in the Equilar study don't tell the full story on CEO pay. For instance, Bank of America's Ken Lewis didn't take home a base salary in 2009, at the urging of so-called pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. But Lewis still left with $4.2 million in 2009 compensation, as well as a $72 million retirement package. During the previous three years, he also earned $63 million in compensation. Similarly, Citi CEO Vikram Pandit has vowed to take home just one piddling dollar in salary each year until the firm is profitable. But last year he also earned $128,750 in other compensation, not to mention a nearly $200 million sign-on bonus accrued the previous year in connection with Citi's acquisition of Old Lane Partners. By contrast, the average American earns less than $47,000 a year, according to the most recent Labor Department data. His pay isn't keeping up with inflation either: Wages are up 1.6% over the past year, while consumer prices have risen 2.2%. It's tough to find a job to begin with, as unemployment lingers at just under 10% -- or over 17%, depending on whether one factors in people who got too frustrated to bother looking for a job anymore. >> Wall Street Pay Q&A Loading Comments... 1 2 3 4 Last » Next ›SHARE:
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