M&T Bank, the lender struggling to complete its merger with Hudson City Bancorp, cut Chief Executive Officer Robert Wilmers's pay by 23% last year as the stock lagged.
Wilmers, who said executives should make sacrifices in their compensation in his most recent annual shareholder letter, was awarded $3.05 million for his work last year, the Buffalo, New York-based bank said today in a regulatory filing. That included a salary of $950,000, a $425,000 cash bonus and $1.68 million in restricted stock. He was awarded $3.95 million for 2012.
While Wilmers, 79, saw his cash bonus increase, his salary was cut 49% from last year and the amount of stock he received declined 12%, according to the filing. M&T gained 18% last year, the worst performer in the 24- company KBW Bank Index, which advanced 35%.
M&T's stock has trailed peers as the bank waits for regulators to approve its takeover of Paramus, New Jersey-based Hudson City, the industry's biggest and longest pending merger. The deal has been delayed twice amid Federal Reserve probes into M&T's money-laundering controls. The $3.7 billion bid dates to August 2012.
