JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon gets 10% pay hike to $46.5 million

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG, REUTERS) - JPMorgan Chase & Co has raised chief executive officer Jamie Dimon's total compensation by 10 per cent to US$34.5 million (S$46.5 million) for his work in 2021, the firm's most profitable year on record.

The move is the latest sign that banks are paying their most senior leaders more as well, after compensation pressures emerged last year from the junior ranks up through the banking and trading hierarchy. Firms were forced to raise salaries for burnt-out junior bankers and are paying higher bonuses after showing restraint in 2020.

Wall Street's premier investment banks also informed staff of bumper bonuses for 2021, following a record-breaking year for dealmaking.

Goldman Sachs increased its annual bonus pool for top-performing investment bankers by 40 per cent to 50 per cent, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

JPMorgan Chase, the largest United States bank, increased its annual bonus pool for top-performing investment bankers by 30 per cent to 40 per cent, sources said.

Record levels of dealmaking and trading activities have driven profit at investment banks this year as economic stimulus measures helped propel stock markets globally to all-time highs.

The bank's partners were handed special stock bonuses, some of which amounted to multimillion-dollar packages, the sources said.

Both Mr Dimon and his top deputy, Mr Daniel Pinto, were awarded special bonuses last year to entice them to stay in their roles for a "significant number of years."

Mr Dimon's 2021 pay package includes US$28 million of restricted stock tied to performance, an annual base salary of US$1.5 million and a US$5 million cash bonus. Mr Dimon, 65, was paid US$31.5 million a year for both 2020 and 2019.

JPMorgan earned US$48.3 billion last year, a 66 per cent jump from 2020. Nearly US$10 billion of that came from reserve releases after potentially soured loans predicted at the start of the pandemic never materialised. The firm also benefited from a historic deal boom, which helped fuel its best-ever year for investment banking fees.

Mr Dimon has led JPMorgan since 2005 and is the most prominent executive in global banking, serving as a spokesman for the industry.

He has usually been the highest-paid of the major US bank CEOs in recent years, but last year was bested by Morgan Stanley's Mr James Gorman, who was paid US$33 million for 2020.

JPMorgan is the first one of the group to disclose 2021 pay.