How Much Investment Banking Execs Make (Part 1)

Investment banking senior executives rise through the ranks over a 20-30 year career so it is not surprising that their pay can reach into eight figures. In some cases, individual investment bankers may make more than their bosses in a good year because a $50 or $100 million M&A advisory fee can result in a bonus that trounces that of senior executives. However, senior leaders get paid for pushing collaboration amongst their bankers and managing the top and bottom line, resulting in compensation based on division and overall bank performance.

We can easily observe the pay of the most senior investment banking executive at the full service US firms by taking a look at their DEF 14A proxy filings and the accompanying compensation tables. Bank of America, Citi, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley all manage their investment bank differently but each has a 'Named Executive Officer' overseeing their investment bank (and in many cases, several other businesses as well). Below is a summary of each executive, their title and historical compensation.

Clearly, not all of the executives have the same responsibilities -- the COO of Goldman Sachs has more significant role than many of their other executives but all oversee investment banking as a key responsibility. Vis Raghavan's pay at Citi stands out versus the others, and it likely due to getting paid to leave JP Morgan and also reflects only his first year of compensation when he received significant stock grants. Overall though, all of the executives earn greater than $10-15 million annually (and as much as $40-50 million!) to run an investment bank. S&P 500 CEOs reportedly earned $18.9 million in compensation in 2024 so these bankers give the CEOs a solid run for their money.