Managers Reevaluate Compensation After M&A

Mergers and acquisitions are prompting asset managers to reevaluate compensation — a process that can cause key personnel to flee if new pay plans don’t live up to their expectations. Typically when asset management firms merge, they try to combine their compensation structures, says Alan Johnson, managing director at Johnson Associates, a compensation consultancy. “If…

Jet Perks: Which Travel Bills Were the Priciest?

Alan Johnson, CEO of compensation consultancy Johnson Associates, finds Facebook, and particularly Zuckerberg, to be brazen in undertaking personal expenditures that are a cost to the company. “Facebook, of course, they don’t care what anybody thinks,” he says. Johnson is also skeptical about the aircraft perk as a security issue. “He could reimburse the company,…

Hedge Pay Sputters, Except for the Seven-Figure Quants

Following the first quarter, alternatives compensation is projected to remain flat or see some modest increases, according to a report from Johnson Associates. While hedge fund performance has ticked back up after a tough 2018, high watermark challenges around performance fees remain, and that could lead to a disconnect between people’s expectations and their paychecks,…

Uptick in Market Flattens Incentive Compensation

Asset managers’ incentive compensation are shaping up to remain flat in 2019. This news is sure to be met with disappointment, but Alan Johnson, managing director at compensation consultancy Johnson Associates, says that things could have been a lot worse. At the turn of the year the first quarter incentive compensation scenario looked a lot…

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…

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…

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

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.…

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