Charles Schwab (SCHW) has lowered its executive compensation following a difficult year at the U.S. investment firm.
Chief executive officer (CEO) Walt Bettinger and several other top executives saw their pay cut in recent months, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Bettinger’s total compensation was reduced to $23.9 million U.S. for 2023 from $24.4 million U.S. the previous year. His compensation included a base salary of $1.5 million U.S. and the remainder being stock awards.
Chief financial officer (CFO) Peter Crawford, chief operating officer (COO) Joseph Martinetto, and even founder and co-chairman Charles “Chuck” Schwab also saw their compensation cut.
Chuck Schwab saw his total compensation decline to $7.5 million U.S. from $7.9 million U.S. a year earlier. His base salary was $884,000 U.S. last year.
The median employee compensation at the brokerage was $117,672 U.S. in 2023. The company is one of the biggest wealth management firms in America with $8.52 trillion U.S. in client assets.
Charles Schwab struggled with several issues last year, including large withdrawals of uninvested cash from low-paying bank accounts and high borrowing costs.
At the end of last year, Charles Schwab laid off about 5% of its workforce that totaled 36,000 employees.
Charles Schwab is scheduled to report its first-quarter earnings on April 15.
The stock of Charles Schwab has risen 40% in the past 12 months to trade at $72.37 U.S. per share.
