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By Arasu Kannagi Basil and Nivedita Balu
(Reuters) -Royal Bank of Canada boosted CEO Dave McKay's 2024 salary by 61% to C$24.5 million ($17.14 million), including a C$4 million bonus related to the HSBC Canada acquisition, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.
Laurent Ferreira, the CEO of Montreal-based National Bank of Canada, was given a 34.6% jump in his 2024 pay package of C$11.4 million, after the country's sixth largest bank completed the purchase of Alberta-based rival Canadian Western Bank.
RBC noted McKay's role in guiding the company through the "once-in-a-generation acquisition" of HSBC Canada for C$13.5 billion, as well as his stewardship in bolstering RBC's existing businesses. National Bank's acquisition of CWB gave it room for its coast-to-coast expansion and growing its commercial banking business.
McKay's 2025 compensation target remains unchanged at C$17 million. The C$4 million stock award is linked to "strategic cost and earnings objectives" related to the integration of the HSBC Canada acquisition.
Canadian banks that have traditionally expanded south of the border have been looking for opportunities to grow at home, betting on lower risk, better margins and cost of doing business.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Montreal CEO Darryl White was handed his third pay cut after a challenging 2024. He was awarded C$9.6 million in total direct compensation for 2024, down 14.2% from a year earlier.
The bank struggled with credit issues last year, weighed by an uncertain economy and some bad loan books in the United States. BMO's stock rose 6.4% in 2024, underperforming the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index gain of 18%, while shares of RBC and National Bank rose to nearly 30% each.
"Over the past year, the global economy continued to experience challenges — although in recent months, there has been reason for more optimism... Still, there is much uncertainty in the world, which will require careful and deliberate management," board chair George Cope and White said.
($1 = 1.4291 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru and Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Editing by Alan Barona)