- Key insight: CEOs leading banks with more than $100 billion of assets saw the highest pay hikes in 2025, according to a study by the consulting firm Compensation Advisory Partners.
- Supporting data: Median total direct compensation rose 17.6% year over year for CEOs leading banks with more than $100 billion of assets, the data showed.
- Forward look: Bank CEO pay is expected to increase again for 2026, given strong market performance year to date, experts said.
Bank CEO pay increased across asset sizes last year, a return to the normal trend after a down 2024. But it was the chief executives of the biggest banks that received the largest year-over-year boosts in total direct compensation.
Median total direct compensation in 2025 for CEOs of banks with more than $100 billion of assets rose 17.6% from the prior year, according to a study of 54 U.S. banks by the consulting firm Compensation Advisory Partners. For CEOs of banks with assets between $50 billion and $100 billion, median total direct compensation rose slightly less — 14.7% year over year — but well ahead of banks with assets below $50 billion, where the same metric came in at 12.3%.
The findings line up with
But they diverge from the results last year, when
"I would say that 2025 was probably more of a normalized year" in banking, Shaun Bisman, a partner at Compensation Advisory Partners, told American Banker. The pay increases "were backed by stronger fundamentals," including earnings per share and return metrics, he said.
"They all moved in the right direction," he added.
Among the notable 2025 pay hikes, Citi CEO Jane Fraser received a package worth $42 million, up 21.7% year over year, as she continued to lead the megabank through a yearslong overhaul. Her counterpart at Bank of America, Brian Moynihan, received $41 million in compensation, up 17% year over year, while Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase, was awarded the largest pay package among his big-bank peers. His $43 million compensation rose 10.3% year over year.
Overall, median total direct compensation across the 54 banks that Compensation Advisory Partners analyzed increased by 12.5% year over year, the analysis showed. That was a smaller increase than in 2024 when bank CEO pay rose 17.9% from the prior year, reflecting
In 2023,
In 2025, the increase in bank CEO compensation was driven by two of the three items in the typical executive compensation package: bonuses and long-term incentive awards. Among the banks in the study, annual bonuses surged 22% compared with the prior year, while long-term incentive values rose 12.9% year over year, according to Compensation Advisory Partners.
Salaries, which make up the remaining one-third of most bank CEOs' pay packages, rose at a median of 4.4% last year, a "modest" increase and similar to prior years, the consulting firm said.
Banks' CEO pay reflected strong financial performance in 2025. The median earnings per share for the banks analyzed by Compensation Advisory Partners rose 15.5% year over year, with banks above $100 billion of assets seeing the highest increase, 17.1%, the analysis showed.
Broadly speaking, public companies have been increasing CEO pay packages, according to Josh Black, editor in chief at Diligent Market Intelligence, which provides data and insight on shareholder engagement and corporate governance issues at companies around the world.
According to the firm's most recent executive compensation analysis, which was published in September and reviewed 2024 pay packages, CEO pay continued to rise, with S&P 500 companies reporting median CEO compensation of $17.1 million, up about 8% year over year.
The S&P 500 had "one of the most substantial gains in 2024," with a total shareholder return of 25%, according to Diligent's report.
The firm continues to gather information disclosed during the current proxy season, but so far "the markets have trended upwards and there's been continued demand for executive talent," though perhaps the competition is not as aggressive as the post-pandemic years, Black said.
Halfway through 2026, the expectation is that bank CEO pay will likely increase once again, according to Bisman and Kelly Malafis, another partner at Compensation Advisory Partners.
Year to date, among the sample 54 banks, total shareholder return is up about 9%, Bisman said.
"The banks are very linked to financial performance and that will drive [compensation] either way," Malafis said.
