Gordon Nixon, RBC president and CEOMARK BLINCH
Royal Bank of Canada, the country's largest bank, is paying its chief executive officer, Gordon Nixon, $11-million in direct compensation for 2010.
The amounts were disclosed in the bank's proxy circular on Monday, just as U.S. regulators revived the debate over bankers' pay by proposing new restrictions on bonuses.
The $11-million includes Mr. Nixon's base salary of $1.4-million, but does not include more than $810,000 that was added to his pension.
Mr. Nixon's direct compensation is up from the $10.4-million that he received for fiscal 2009, but his pension rose by $1.65-million that year, resulting in a higher level of total compensation.
The other top earners include names that are bandied about as potential successors to Mr. Nixon: chief financial officer Janice Fukakusa, who earned $3.8-million in direct compensation; head of Canadian banking David McKay who earned $4.28-million; and the co-heads of RBC's investment bank, Douglas McGregor and Mark Standish, who earned slightly more than $10-million apiece.