By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: December 6, 2023 ~

Robin Vince, President and CEO, BNY Mellon Corporation

To stem some of the whining by the CEOs of the eight largest Wall Street mega banks at a Senate Banking hearing today (where they are expected to gripe about newly proposed higher capital requirements and whimper that it will hurt their ability to make loans to the little folks) the Banking Committee released the CEOs’ 2022 total compensation and its ratio to their bank’s median worker.

Among the most embarrassing and obscene pay packages was the 2022 compensation to Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, which came in at $34.9 million. The ratio of Dimon’s pay to the pay of the median worker at JPMorgan Chase was 393 to 1, the highest among the eight CEOs at the hearing. (For more on the zombie Board at JPMorgan Chase that keeps rewarding Dimon for the bank’s serial criminal behavior, see our report: After JPMorgan Chase Admits to Its 4th and 5th Felony Charge, Its Board Gives a $50 Million Bonus to Its CEO, Jamie Dimon.)

The lowest compensated CEO among the group was Robin Vince, President and CEO of Bank of New York Mellon. His total 2022 compensation was $11.2 million, which clocked in at 159 times the bank’s median worker’s compensation.

You might want to save your tears for Vince. He’s been moving up the corporate ladder quite rapidly at BNY Mellon with his compensation moving just as rapidly. The proxy that the bank filed with the SEC this spring shows that Vince received total compensation in 2020 of $4.9 million, then leaped to $9.3 million in 2021 – an 89.80 percent increase in one year.

And Vince’s previous background suggests strongly that he’ll be nudging his Board to move his compensation more in line with that of Dimon in the not so distant future.

Vince joined BNY Mellon in October 2020 after 26 years at Goldman Sachs. When he left Goldman, he was serving as its Chief Risk Officer and was a member of the Management Committee. His previous roles at Goldman included Treasurer, Head of Operations, Head of Global Money Markets, COO of the EMEA region and CEO of Goldman Sachs International Bank, among others. He became a Managing Director at Goldman in 2002 and made partner in 2006.

Vince won’t have to worry that he made a bad decision in moving from Goldman to BNY Mellon should there be a change in control. The proxy filed with the SEC also shares that if Vince is terminated by the bank as a result of a change in control, he’ll receive $12.17 million in a cash severance payment; $5.17 million in a pro-rated bonus; $59,914 in health and wellness benefits; for a total of $17.39 million just to walk out the fancy front door of this banking behemoth.

Bank of New York Mellon dates its history to 1784 and calls itself “America’s oldest financial institution.” Today, it says, “BNY Mellon powers capital markets around the world through comprehensive solutions that help clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment life cycle.”