The Canadian Press

CIBC (TSX:CM) shareholders have approved the bank’s pay structure for its executive team, marking the first “say on pay” vote at Canada’s big banks.

Shareholders voted 92.89% in favour of the current pay structure at the bank’s annual meeting in Montreal on Thursday.

CIBC was the first in Canada’s financial industry to give shareholders the opportunity to vote for or against how they compensate their executives. The country’s other big banks will hold similar votes, along with some major financial firms.

CIBC also disclosed that chief executive Gerry McCaughey took a 24% pay cut last year, earning $6.24 million in 2009. That’s down from $8.16 million in 2008.

However, McCaughey was also paid a higher base salary of $1.5 million, up from $1 million.

Earlier in the day, CIBC reported a first-quarter profit of $652 million, an increase from $147 million a year earlier.