WASHINGTON - In the three decades that America's Community Bankers has been publishing its annual bank compensation and benefits survey, one consistent trend has been that executive salaries generally rise from year to year.
But the survey released this week revealed that chief executives, chief financial officers, and other top banking officials made less in the year that ended March 31 than they did a year earlier.
The decline, though, appears to have no connection to executives' performance. Instead, ACB officials attributed it to a change in the survey's methodology.
The average CEO's salary fell 4.5%, to $202,500, from an all-time high of $212,000 a year earlier, the survey said. In addition, the average bonus or profit-sharing payment dropped below $46,000, from more than $55,000 a year earlier.
Debra Cope, vice president who oversees the survey for the trade group, attributed the drop to a shifting response pool and changes in the way the data was analyzed. The changes made comparisons between this year's data and data from previous years difficult, if not misleading, she said.
ACB overhauled its approach after previous surveys produced data "we weren't completely confident in," Ms. Cope said. To prevent outlying figures from skewing the overall results, the survey now excludes the highest and lowest 2.5% of salaries, she said.
The changes in methodology also could explain the salary declines reported for other top officers.
The average chief operating officer's salary fell 5.6%, to just under $133,000. The average for directors of strategic planning declined 13%, to under $122,000, and the average for general counsels fell 20.2%, to $103,000.
Overall, however, banks reported that more than 90% of their employees received raises, and nearly 15% were promoted. Base salaries increased by an average of 4.2%, continuing to outpace inflation, and respondents said that future salaries would rise an average 4.1% for managers, 4.2% for executives, and 4.3% for staff members.
Benefits made up over one-fourth of nonsalary compensation, in large part because of rising health-care premiums, Ms. Cope said. Nearly three-quarters of the banks surveyed said their health-care costs have risen, with the increases averaging almost 12%.
According to Ms. Cope, 98% of banks provide health insurance, 95% offer prescription drug coverage, and 9% offer long-term disability coverage.
ACB mailed the survey to more than 3,800 banks and thrifts, and 361 responded. More than half of the respondents' were stock-owned, a third were mutual thrifts, and the rest were owned by a mutual holding company.
Savings banks outnumbered commercial banks 2 to 1, and respondents' assets ranged from $10 million to $42 billion.
The response rate also varied widely by region. More than 180 of the responses came from the Great Lakes and Middle Atlantic states, but only three dozen came from 12 states west of the Rocky Mountains.
Among the survey's other findings:
- The disparity in CEO pay between large and small financial institutions shrank. The median CEO salary for banks with less than $50 million of assets rose more than 13.6%, to $100,000. At banks with more than $1 billion, the median CEO salary dropped by about a quarter, to under $365,000.
- The average compensation for outside directors fell 1%, to $17,616, perhaps signaling a halt in director raises following the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's passage.
- Nearly 60% of banks offered longtime service awards - a figure that Ms. Cope called surprisingly low, given banks' "reputation as the home of the gold watch."
- More than 40% of community banks provide employees with free flu shots. More than 25% offer stress management counseling, nearly 20% offer free health screenings, and 16% offer training in CPR and first aid.
- The most widely offered perk was free or subsidized parking, offered to 74% of employees.
