Private Equity Takes an Early Lead in 2019 Bonus Race

Alan Johnson, managing director at the consultancy, said: “An emerging trend worth noting is the clear movement of incentive plan designs towards business/unit objectives with less focus on global/overall firm results. “With the advantage of hindsight, plans had over-emphasized an ‘all for one’ philosophy, which can be less effective in more challenging environments.” Financial News / May…

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CEO Pay Mixed in Asset-Challenged Year

CEOs of the country’s largest asset managers, and megabanks with asset management divisions, are finding themselves in the hot seat over their high earnings relative to those of their employees. The first wave of CEO pay ratio disclosures began last year, drawing scrutiny from Congress as the industry marked a decade since the 2008 financial…

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BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink Takes Pay Cut

Asset-management professionals will end 2019 with flat growth in bonus packages over 2018, according to a projection by compensation consultant Johnson Associates. Last year, asset-management professionals ended with bonus packages 3% to 4% higher than the previous year. Wall Street Journal / April 12, 2019 READ ARTICLE

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Wall Street’s Dirty Secret: Pay is Trending Down

“We don’t have the extreme levels of pay we saw 10 years ago,” said Alan Johnson, a Wall Street pay consultant. “The people making $10 million or $20 million a year aren’t there anymore.” Wall Street pay may be about to soar even higher as the Trump administration takes an ax to some Obama-era regulations.…

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Active Managers Move Closer to Being Endangered Species

Unless active managers can differentiate themselves and their investment strategies, “like any industry that sells a lot of generic products, the active side of the industry will inevitably be smaller,” said Alan Johnson, managing director and president of compensation specialist Johnson Associates Inc., New York. Pensions & Investments / April 1, 2019 READ ARTICLE

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Managers Realizing That a New World Needs New People

“The investment industry is behind the times and resisting change,” said Alan Johnson, managing director and president of Johnson Associates Inc., New York, a money manager compensation consultant. Mr. Johnson said the current “belt-tightening” the industry is undergoing will inevitably reduce the total headcount as managers rationalize and retrench their businesses by shedding “half-hearted” investment…

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“Kind of Inevitable” – Wells Fargo CEO Departs

Alan Johnson, founder of compensation consultancy Johnson Associates, calls Sloan’s announced departure “kind of inevitable.” He says it is likely the board has been seeking replacements in recent months, and hopefully isn’t reacting only to Sloan’s testimony before Congress several weeks ago. Johnson believes the most logical successor for Sloan will be an executive at…

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Wall Street Average Bonus Slid 17% in 2018, New York State Says

Wall Street’s average bonus fell 17 percent in 2018 to $153,700, the first decline in three years, according to estimates by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli… While DiNapoli didn’t break out bonuses by business lines, equities traders probably fared best, based on forecasts in November by pay consultant Johnson Associates Inc. Fixed-income traders and merger…

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Here’s How to Reduce Unethical Behavior via Comp Plans

[Alan] Johnson says companies get into problems when their culture is based on letting different kinds of infractions like cheating, misreporting, and harassment slide “as long as the money is coming in.” Another way to curb misreporting is to make sure early on that people have the right skills and the capacity to succeed in…

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Limits on Wall Street Pay Are Back on Regulators’ Agenda

When last proposed in 2016, the rules would have required the biggest financial firms to defer payment of at least half of executives’ bonuses for four years, a year longer than common industry practice. It also would have established a seven-year clawback period, in which executives would be required to return their bonuses if their…

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