The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu The leading online blog in the fields of corporate governance and financial regulation. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:30:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.13 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-photography-4-e1706898544564-1-32x32.png Bank CEO Pay on the S&P 500: How One-Time Awards Impact Compensation and Benchmarking – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 Bank CEO Pay on the S&P 500: How One-Time Awards Impact Compensation and Benchmarking https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/10/24/bank-ceo-pay-on-the-sp-500-how-one-time-awards-impact-compensation-and-benchmarking/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bank-ceo-pay-on-the-sp-500-how-one-time-awards-impact-compensation-and-benchmarking https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/10/24/bank-ceo-pay-on-the-sp-500-how-one-time-awards-impact-compensation-and-benchmarking/#respond Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:30:31 +0000 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/?p=184500?d=20261023154049EDT Posted by Hannah Fasbender, Glass, Lewis & Co., on Saturday, October 24, 2026
Editor's Note:
Hannah Fasbender is a Director of Research at Glass, Lewis & Co. This post is based on her Glass Lewis memorandum.

Key Takeaways

  • A stark divergence between average and median pay growth for S&P 500 bank CEOs indicates that the sector-wide average was pulled upward by a limited number of unusually large pay packages.
  • One-time awards were a significant factor, with the aggregate value for grants across the sector rising from a little over $100 million in FY 2023 to above $430 million in FY 2025, representing an approximate 311% increase.
  • The total was highly concentrated, with just five of the twelve banks that granted one-time awards in FY 2025 accounting for nearly 87% (approximately $379 million) of the aggregate recorded value across the sector.
  • Several banks cited their peers in explaining the awards. Once an exceptional award enters the peer data, it can become support for the next exceptional award, even where the underlying retention threat is not clearly evidenced.

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