The Canadian Press

CIBC (TSX:CM) disclosed Thursday that its chief executive Gerry McCaughey took a 24% reduction to his direct compensation last year.

The bank said McCaughey received annual compensation worth $6.24 million in 2009, after helping steer CIBC back towards profitability.

That compares to the heftier $8.16 million payment he received in 2008, the same year the bank fell to a $2 billion annual loss.

CIBC was the first of the big Canadian banks to report its executive compensation figures. It said the lower payment partly reflects a change to the way it calculates compensation, as well as its overall financial performance.

Other executives also took pay cuts, with wholesale banking head Richard Nesbitt shaving 8% off his compensation to $5.43 million in 2009.

Chief financial officer David Williamson took a near 6% reduction to $2.3 million.

“Overall, the board believes Gerry McCaughey and his team have made significant progress under difficult circumstances and can be credited with navigating CIBC through the global financial crisis, reducing risk and positioning the bank for future success,” the bank said in a statement.

CIBC noted that it reworked the way it determines executive compensation because their previous calculations were sometimes difficult to compare with its competitors in the financial industry.

As part of the changes, the board of directors won’t wait a full year before determining bonus executive payments, as it did before.

CIBC also announced former Manulife Financial (TSX:MFC) chief executive Dominic D’Alessandro will join the company’s board of directors.