Notes
Compensation includes salaries, bonuses awarded for that year’s performance, pensions and other pay. 2015 salaries were annualised for new CEOs at BBVA, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered; 2014 salary was annualised for RBC. Salaries for Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Standard Chartered and Royal Bank of Scotland include fixed pay allowances. ‘Replacement awards’ given to their new chief executives in lieu of lost shares/earnings are included in 2015 figures for Standard Chartered (c$10m), Credit Suisse (c$15m) and Barclays (c$2m). Net income and salaries for all banks have been converted to USD using average annual exchange rates.
Shares in Banco Santander have almost halved since José Antonio Álvarez was appointed chief executive of the eurozone’s biggest bank by market capitalisation in November 2014. Santander’s former chief financial officer is respected by investors, though he operates in the shadow of Ana Botín, who became executive chairman after the death of her late father Emilio almost two years ago. Mr Álvarez conceded earlier this year that the bank is grappling with a “challenging environment” as low interest rates squeeze profit margins. It is closing branches and trimming staff numbers to cut €3bn of costs as it tries to offset problems in its large Brazilian and US operations. Even after a €7.5bn share sale at the start of 2015, there remain questions over Santander’s core capital ratio, which is lower than most major rivals.
Back to chart
Kicking off a financial-industry conference in New York in early February, Lloyd Blankfein could have been forgiven a little gallows humour. Markets were tanking, and the chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs had recently come through 600 hours of chemotherapy. “I heard that this is the large-cap section,” he said. “I’m glad we still qualify, with what’s going on.” Ten years into the […]
