Bank Boards Continue to Struggle with Measuring Executive Performance, Retaining Key Talent

BRENTWOOD, TENN., May 21, 2013 – For the second year in a row, executives and board members of the nation’s banks indicate a continued struggle with how to effectively tie compensation to performance, reveals a Bank Director survey that was co-developed with and sponsored by Compensation Advisors by Meyer-Chatfield. Sixty-nine percent of respondents cite tying compensation to performance as their top compensation challenge for 2013. Understanding and complying with regulatory issues is cited by 41 percent as a significant challenge. Other key findings include:

• Talent retention could increasingly prove to be a concern for the banking industry. Forty percent of respondents cite the retention of key talent as a compensation challenge, with 44 percent reporting the departure of a key executive within the last three years. Of those reporting an executive departure, 23 percent indicate that the officer left the banking industry.
• While many expect director pay to stay the same, 35 percent expect to see a rise in director compensation in 2014. Sixty-two percent feel that they are fairly compensated as a board member. Respondents also report that the amount of time spent on bank board activities remains the same, at a median of 15 hours per month.
• Benefits for boards continue to decline, with 58 percent indicating that they receive no benefits at all as compensation for board service. This represents a drop of 19 percentage points since 2011.
• Cash, in the form of salary, retainers and meetings fees, remains the compensation method of choice for the executives and directors of financial institutions. Just 2 percent of respondents indicate that salary holds little or no value as a part of executive compensation, and only 6 percent of respondents indicate that cash fees and retainers hold little or no value as part of director compensation.

The survey was conducted by Bank Director in March of this year, with more than 300 directors, CEOs and other executives at financial institutions responding from across the United States. A summary of the results is available at BankDirector.com. Further exploration of the results will appear in the 3rd Quarter 2013 issue of Bank Director magazine, to be published in August.

ABOUT BANK DIRECTOR
Since 1991, Bank Director has served as a leading information resource for the directors and officers of financial institutions. Throughout the year, Bank Director asks officers and directors of financial institutions to share their thoughts on board-specific issues like compensation, managing risk, growth, board liability and strategic planning. Bank Director’s research and analysis provides a bank’s board members with unparalleled insight and information. In addition to research, Bank Director reaches the leaders of the banking industry through its quarterly magazine, annual conferences, and its website, BankDirector.com. Bank Director is published by DirectorCorps, and headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.

ABOUT COMPENSATION ADVISORS BY MEYER-CHATFIELD
Meyer-Chatfield provides a full range of Compensation Advisory services, including base and incentive compensation review, executive and director benefit analysis, compensation program design recommendations, implementation support and regulatory educational updates. Meyer-Chatfield can also offer our clients a proprietary product that lowers the cost of a non-qualified Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (“SERP”) while extending the benefit to the executive for their lifetime. Compensation services are provided by dedicated employees of Compensation Advisors by Meyer-Chatfield.

Source: BankDirector.com

Contact: Emily McCormick, director of research, (615) 777-8471 or [email protected]