Survey: CT bankers, peers well-paid in 2010

2010 wasn’t a bad year to be a commercial banker in Connecticut and the Northeast, with nearly nine in 10 receiving a pay raise, a survey shows.

Not surprisingly, the biggest loan producers-managers got the biggest raises, according to The Executive Search Group’s survey of national, regional and community banks and credit unions.

Commercial bankers who generated more than $20 million in new loans made an average of $180,000 in total compensation, or 70 percent more than the average $96,000 paid lenders who produced less than $10 million, the ESG survey found.

New York bankers are the best paid, with base salaries averaging $145,000, Massachusetts bankers followed with $122,000; then Rhode Island, $121,000; Connecticut, $117,000; New Hampshire, $92,000; Maine, $87,000; with Vermont trailing at $83,000.

Furthermore, it appeared that the most highly valued educational credential was formal credit training, not an MBA. Lenders who completed formal credit training made 20 percent more than those who have an MBA but no credit training.

“We continue to see strong demand for experienced commercial lenders at banks of all asset sizes,” said Peter Smith, president and CEO of the Executive Search Group. “This survey shows that large and small banks alike in the Northeast continue to compete for a limited talent pool, driving increases in salaries and bonuses.”

The survey also revealed that lenders with 20 years of experience or more outnumber those with less than five years of experience by a ratio of about four to one. In total, 24 percent of the lenders who responded to the survey were planning on retiring within five years. 

The survey was conducted between Oct. 1 and Nov. 26, 2010 via an online and telephone poll of 581 lenders from 242 banks and credit unions doing commercial business in Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York.