Top executives at Bank of Montreal all took home raises last year, including chief executive officer Bill Downe, who saw his total compensation jump 12 per cent to $11.4-million.
Regulatory filings show Mr. Downe's compensation included a base salary of $1.03-million, and another $10.4-million in stock bonuses, options and other incentives. The bank said the raise came after BMO embarked on a major expansion in the U.S. with the purchase of Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp.
The CEO, who in 2009 made $7.56-million, has seen his total compensation jump 51 per cent in the past two years.
BMO is the third major lender to report executive compensation for 2011. Toronto-Dominion Bank disclosed this week that CEO Ed Clark had total compensation of $11.38-million last year, roughly the same as in 2010, while RBC disclosed that CEO Gord Nixon had $11.17-million in total compensation in 2011, down 6 per cent.
Several other top executives at BMO, Canada's fourth-biggest bank by assets, took home raises. Tom Milroy, head of capital markets, made $7.99-million, up 14 per cent, while Frank Techar, head of Canadian retail banking, made $4.49-million, a raise of 7 per cent.
Chief financial officer Tom Flynn had total compensation of $3.45-million, up 4 per cent. Executive vice-president of business integration Russel Robertson made $2.66-million, up 5 per cent. Gilles Ouellette head of the bank's private client group, had total compensation of $4.35-million, a raise of 15 per cent.
The raises at BMO were made public on the same day the bank laid off about 60 people in its North American capital markets division. BMO spokesman Paul Deegan would not confirm the number of layoffs, however the cuts are believed to represent a little more than 2.5 per cent of the 2,300 people employed in the division.
"The reductions are part of our focus on productivity and we would expect to continue to be hiring over the course of the year as we grow our businesses," Mr. Deegan said.
Grant Robertson