Home Loan Bank Chiefs Pulled Down $300,000 On Average Last Year

WASHINGTON - Federal Home Loan Bank presidents took home an average of $302,824 in salary and bonuses in 1994, according to figures released by the Federal Housing Finance Board.

Atop the pay scale was Dean M. Schultz, president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, with a base salary of $274,000 and a bonus of $86,087, adding up to $360,087.

At the bottom: George M. Barclay, president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, which doesn't pay bonuses. He received a base salary of $220,000.

Pittsburgh Home Loan Bank President James M. Roy, who was near the middle of the pack with $314,256 in salary and bonuses in 1994, said the presidents' pay is not out of line.

"Most studies would clearly reflect that Home Loan bank presidents' compensation levels are at the low end of competitive pay ranges," he said.

Mr. Barclay, however, said that since their enforcement duties were moved by Congress to the Office of Thrift Supervision in 1989, the Home Loan bank presidents have less to do and hence don't need such fat paychecks.

"My brethren don't share this point of view," he added.

The 10 Home Loan bank presidents in office from 1991 through 1994 saw their compensation rise 28%. Bonuses for 1995 haven't been determined, but the presidents' average base salary is $253,723, up 5.4% from 1994's $240,703.

The housing finance board, which regulates the Home Loan banks, released the pay data in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Earlier this month, the board voted to change the criteria for bank presidents' bonuses.

Since 1992 the bonuses had been awarded according to a formula that included overall system profits and individual banks' market share, profits, and community investment lending.

Now, half the bonus will be linked to each bank's Community Investment Program advances - used to finance low-income and moderate-income housing - and the rest will be left up to the boards of the individual banks.

The new standards are good news for the presidents of the San Francisco, Chicago, and Cincinnati banks, which led the system in Community Investment Program lending in 1994.

The presidents' base salaries are set by the Home Loan bank boards - within salary ranges determined by the size of the bank. The San Francisco bank is the system's biggest, with $46.9 billion in assets as of June 30, and the Topeka, Kan., bank is the smallest, with assets of $11.7 billion.

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