These 3 Bank CEOs Got Big Raises Last Year

Wall Street is the one place in America where money does grow on trees. Image credit: iStock/Thinkstock.

Last year was a good one for the CEOs of the nation's biggest banks. The leaders of JPMorgan Chase , Bank of America , and Citigroup received double-digit raises in 2015 compared to the prior year. And while Wells Fargo has yet to report its compensation figures, it's safe to assume that its CEO, John Stumpf, will be similarly rewarded.

Data sources: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and The Wall Street Journal.

One can argue about the amount of money that these CEOs make, but there's little question that Dimon, Corbat, and Moynihan deserved to make more in 2015 than they did in 2014, given the performances of their banks.

JPMorgan Chase turned in another year of solid profitability, earning $24.4 billion in 2015 compared to $21.7 billion the prior year. This translated into a full year return on average assets of 0.99% versus a year-ago 0.89%. JPMorgan Chase also raised its dividend last year by 10%, and boosted its Tier 1 common capital ratio from 10.2% all the way up to 11.8%.

Citigroup's improvement was even more dramatic. Its net income more than doubled last year, going from $7.3 billion in 2014 up to $17.2 billion. That boosted its return on assets from 0.39% up to 0.95%. Over the course of 2015, moreover, Citigroup's Tier 1 common capital ratio increased from 10.6% up to 12%.

And Bank of America rounded out the group with the largest year-over-year bottom-line improvement. Its earnings went from $4.8 billion in 2014 to $15.9 billion last year. That's a more than threefold increase. On top of this, Bank of America's outstanding legal liabilities fell dramatically and its debt rating improved, the latter of which should lower its cost of funds. The net result was that Bank of America turned in one of its best annual performances in nearly a decade, though its return on average assets still came in at only 0.74%.

Data source: Bank of America

Aside from each of these banks' improved performances last year, the common theme that emerged was the impact that low interest rates continue to have on their bottom lines. That's reflected in the fact that all of them, JPMorgan Chase included, failed to earn at least 1% on their assets, which is a common industry benchmark for high-performing banks.

This will change as time goes on -- interest rates will either increase, or banks will adjust their business models accordingly -- but it's one of the reasons that bank stocks still seem cheap, with shares of Bank of America and Citigroup, in particular, trading for substantial discounts to their book values. When you factor in the trajectory of these banks' earnings, in turn, you would be excused for thinking that there's an opportunity for patient investors to profit from the failure of their share prices to keep up.

The article These 3 Bank CEOs Got Big Raises Last Year originally appeared on Fool.com.

John Maxfield owns shares of Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. The Motley Fool recommends Bank of America. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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