The chief executive of NewAlliance Bancshares in New Haven could receive a pay package totaling nearly $24 million if she leaves the bank after its deal with First Niagara Financial is closed, the New York Times reports.
That would make Peyton R. Patterson, the highest paid woman in finance and among the highest paid bankers in the entire U.S.
Patterson’s exit package, according to an analysis conducted by Brian Foley, a compensation consultant in White Plains, would surpass what the best-paid banker earned last year: John G. Stumpf, the chairman and chief executive of Wells Fargo, the nation’s fourth-biggest bank and operator of Wachovia Bank, who took home $18.8 million, the Times reports.
Patterson’s potential exit package could include $7.1 million in retirement benefits, $3.5 million in severance and a projected $2.8 million bonus, according to Stumpf’s analysis of public filings.
Under her employment contract, she would also get another $5.6 million since those expected payouts are grossed up for taxes.
And that’s on top of about $4.4 million worth of stock and options she accumulated during her eight years at the bank.
Patterson’s future plans still remain unclear, after NewAlliance agreed last week to be bought by New York-based First Niagara Financial for $1.5 billion.
The merger will create a banking behemoth with more than $29 billion in assets. It also means the NewAlliance’s orange and blue brand will disappear in the state.
As part of the deal NewAlliance’s 88 branches, including one recently opened in downtown Hartford, are expected to be converted and rebranded as First Niagara locations.
Currently, First Niagara, which is based in Buffalo, serves communities across Upstate New York and Pennsylvania.
NewAlliance, which employs 1,200 people, has $8.7 billion in assets, including $4.9 billion in loans, as well as $5.1 billion in deposits. Its 88 branches serve eight counties from Greenwich to Springfield, Mass. Â
NewAlliance’s 195 Church Street headquarters in New Haven is slated to become First Niagara’s New England Regional Market Center. Operational and philanthropic decision making will be made by local leaders based in New Haven.
