Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 10, 1993 TAG: 9310060005
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY MARILYN ADAMS
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Medium
A new survey of bank salaries shows that at two of the South's biggest banks, the chief executives are among the highest paid in the industry. But those banks' employees are among the lowest paid in the business.
NationsBank chief executive officer Hugh McColl was the highest-paid banker in America last year, based on his salary and bonus alone. He earned $2.5 million, with abase salary of $700,000 and a $1.8 million bonus. NationsBank, based in Charlotte, N.C., is the third-largest U.S. banking company.
Yet, according to the Southern Finance Project, a Charlotte research organization, NationsBank ranked second from the bottom among the largest 100 banks in America in average employee pay.
First Union Corp. chief Edward Crutchfield's salary and bonus were modest by comparison - $1.6 million. His employees salary ranked 89th on the list of 100.
"We were curious about what has happened to salaries in the banking industry," said Tom Schlesinger, director of the Southern Finance Project, which studies financial markets. "This was a way of surveying the consequences of an intense period of bank failures and mergers in the last few years."
Chief executives at the largest banks received raises totaling 54 percent between 1990 and 1992. Their employees' pay rose 8.3 percent in that time, the study found.
NationsBank declined comment on the study's findings. First Union spokeswoman Sandra Deem said her bank offers incentives for employees, including tellers and customer service representatives, not reflected in the report.
The study was based on bank records filed with the federal government and on Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. statistics.
"I think bank executive salaries were up significantly last year because banks did so well," said Miami bank analyst Ken Thomas. Last year was the banking industry's most profitable on record.
CEO pay figures in the study omitted valuable stock options, life insurance and other perks which, if included, would shift the CEO pecking order.
Thomas said NationsBank's McColl is a special case because "he is the most politically visible banker in America right now."
by CNB