GMP Securities' Harris A. Fricker,Fernando Morales/The Globe and Mail
Slower markets are cutting into bonus payments at GMP Capital .
All of the securities firm's top executive officers received lower compensation last year.
Chief Executive Officer Harris Fricker's pay fell by close to half, according to a filing with regulators.
Mr. Fricker's base salary was increased $750,000 from $487,500 as he had a full year in the CEO role. His annual bonus fell to $2.75-million from $3-million, as the firm said many financial targets weren't met because of a tough year for markets.
But the biggest hit came because Mr. Fricker is no longer doing investment banking work, and is devoting himself full time to the CEO role. In the two prior years he received about $2.2-million a year from GMP's bonus pool -- which is fed by deal revenue and paid out to dealmakers. In 2011, he received nothing from the pool. As a result, his total compensation fell from $6-million to $3.7-million.
GMP has long had a culture where pay for even very senior employees comes solely from an "eat what you kill arrangement." Pay is monthly, and based on a share of revenue from deals that all goes into the pool.
For example, Gene McBurney, one of the founders of the firm and a leading mining banker, takes nothing but a share of that pool. Last year, his pay fell from $6.8-million to $6-million. Dan Tsubouchi, the co-head of investment banking and an energy specialist, saw his pay fall from $5-million to $2.3-million. He too gets nothing but a chunk of the bonus pool.
As a result of the pay cuts, GMP kept its executive pay as a percentage of revenue in line with previous years. In 2011, the ratio was 5.6 per cent.