CHICAGO (Aug. 27, 2013) - Average salary increases for bank officers and nonofficers have settled at about 2.5 percent for the third year in a row, as reported in the Crowe Horwath LLP 2013 Comprehensive Financial Institutions Compensation Survey. Crowe, one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the U. S., conducts the annual survey, now in its 32nd year. Findings from the survey, which compiled data from 293 financial institutions, indicate marketplace stability as actual salary increases closely match the projected increases. The survey shows salary benchmarks for 228 job positions.
Employee turnover levels, after declining during the recession, have rebounded. Officer turnover at smaller banks (those with assets less than $1 billion) had spiked in recent years, but in 2013 was nearly 4 percent for both smaller and larger banks (those with more than $1 billion in assets). Nonofficer turnover has stabilized over the past three years, with turnover at larger banks averaging slightly more than 18 percent and turnover at smaller banks averaging 14.8 percent. "While some of this turnover was driven by staff-reduction efforts, the greater majority was voluntary," said Tim Reimink, a senior consultant in Crowe's Performance practice. "This voluntary turnover reflects the recovery in the financial services industry as people feel more comfortable looking for a new job."
Residential mortgage loan officers had the highest four-year increase in average total compensation, which includes base salary and incentive bonus pay, at 35.6 percent. In 2013, their average total compensation increased 7.7 percent even though their average base salary was reduced by 4.5 percent from the previous year. "Following the recession, financial regulations forced a shift away from incentive pay and toward improving base salaries for mortgage originators. Now that banks have had time to adjust their compliance initiatives to these regulations, they can once again use discretionary pay and still be compliant," Reimink said. He added that mortgage officers also have profited from the large rebound in the housing finance market as record-low interest rates drove many homeowners to refinance their mortgages over the past few years.
Additional survey findings include:
In addition to looking at compensation, the
survey also looked at human resource practices, including employee benefit
costs. Total benefit costs as a percentage of total base salary increased again
in 2013 to 20.5 percent of base salary. This increase is driven primarily by
health benefit costs, which have consistently risen since 2009. "Sixty-five
percent of banks are planning to contain their healthcare costs by passing some
of the cost increases on to employees through an increase in deductibles,
premiums and co-payments," said Pat Cole, a senior manager in Crowe's Tax
practice who specializes in human resource consulting for financial
institutions.
Finding, hiring, retaining and motivating the right employees have consistently been reported as the top human resource concerns for financial institutions for the past few years.
In addition to the national survey, Crowe prepared a regional compensation report for the Midwest, as well as state reports for Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey and Ohio. For more information, or to purchase the survey results, please visit www.crowehorwath.com/compsurvey.
About the 2013 Crowe Horwath Financial Institutions Compensation
Survey
The 2013 Crowe Horwath Financial Institutions Compensation
Survey was completed by 293 financial institutions. Using data as of March 31,
2013, the participant breakdown is as follows: 95 institutions had less than
$250 million in total assets; 79 had between $250 million and $500 million in
total assets; 58 had between $500 million and $1 billion in total assets; 36 had
between $1 billion and $2.5 billion in total assets; 14 had between $2.5 billion
and $10 billion; 11 had more than $10 billion in total assets.
About
Crowe Horwath LLP
Crowe Horwath LLP (www.crowehorwath.com)
is one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the United
States. Under its core purpose of "Building Value with Values®," Crowe uses its
deep industry expertise to provide audit services to public and private
entities, while also helping clients reach their goals with tax, advisory, risk
and performance services. With offices coast to coast and 2,700 personnel, Crowe
is recognized by many organizations as one of the country's best places to work.
Crowe serves clients worldwide as an independent member of Crowe Horwath
International, one of the largest global accounting networks in the world,
consisting of more than 150 independent accounting and advisory services firms
in more than 100 countries around the world.
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