Advisors cool on compensation: Includes Chart

“We all want more, don’t we?” asks one TD Canada Trust advisor in Ontario, voicing the prevailing attitude toward payout. Account managers rated their compensation lower than did investment advisors (who gave their compensation an average grade of 8.3) and planners (8.0) in this year’s Report Card series.

While no one firm has found the elusive formula for compensation satisfaction, National Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada are winning kudos with two approaches.

Bankers at National Bank gave their “salary plus bonus” income (the banking industry norm) a first-place score of 7.7. “For the long term, it’s great here,” says one National Bank advisor from British Columbia. “I’ll get regular raises and a pretty nice pension.”

But there is just no pleasing everyone. “Compared with our objectives, our bonuses are not realistic,” gripes a colleague in Quebec, who cites the firm’s compensation as its worst aspect.

According to Margaret Pernice, senior manager of wealth management at National Bank in Montreal, objectives vary among the bank’s personal advisors, financial planners and financial advisors: “For our personal bankers and financial planners, objectives are based on their books of business. For account managers, the objective is a fixed amount that management sets every year.” Account managers are paid more for selling house products, she adds.

At BMO, a “salary plus commission plus bonus” scheme (unusual among the banks) is continuing to sweeten the pot for many of that firm’s account managers. “I really like the way our pay is structured,” says one BMO advisor from B.C.

Such positivity helped nudge BMO’s total compensation score up a few notches to 7.6.

BMO advisors also like the fact that there are no incentives to sell certain products. “Our financial planners can look a client in the eye and say, ‘You know, it doesn’t matter what we do in here today, I will be paid the same regardless’,” says Jim Lund, national program director for Toronto-based BMO’s investment solutions network.

In addition to salary and commission, BMO offers an annual bonus. “It’s a team-based incentive that reflects the business success of the branch,” Lund says.

Toronto-based Royal Bank’s “salary plus performance bonus” structure also received a score of 7.6 in this year’s Report Card.

“The bonus is determined by how Royal Bank performs and also how the individual performs against a set of goals established at the beginning of the year,” says Karen Svendsen, director of sales and strategy for RBC Investments, the wealth-management arm of Royal Bank.

However, Royal Bank advi-sors had little praise for their paycheques. “If you’re at all focused on income, you’re better off going somewhere with commission,” says a Royal Bank banker on the Prairies.

Vancity Credit Union‘s 2007 compensation score of 7.5 was identical to its 2006 score. “Our investment specialists receive a salary plus a performance-related bonus,” explains Steve Eccles, Vancouver-based Vancity’s vice president of investments. Those operating on the Investment Dealers Association of Canada platform receive a “very low salary with a high commission bonus.”

Yet several Vancity reps surveyed by IE say their compensation is not competitive. “Our firm’s worst aspect is the fact that our pay structure is lower than the banks’,” says an account manager in B.C.

“There are other things that I enjoy about Vancity,” quips a colleague when asked to comment on his compensation.

Account managers at TD Canada Trust, CIBC and Bank of Nova Scotia all gave their firms mediocre grades for total compensation.

While one TD Canada Trust advisor in Ontario cites his compensation as the best aspect of the firm, a colleague from B.C. begs to differ: “Our salary should be higher, and we should be compensated according to our performance.” The bank received a grade of 7.2 in the category.

Compensation is an area of conflict also at CIBC, stuck with a 7.1 rating in the category. “I’m making more money then I’ve ever made,” says one CIBC account manager in Manitoba.

Not so for a CIBC advisor in Northern Ontario: “I came over from another industry, and I never realized how important compensation was until I was making much less of it.”

@page_break@Scotiabank came in second-last place with a score of 7.0. Scotiabank account managers are of two minds regarding the bank’s “salary plus performance bonus” compensation model. “We have a great culture and a great compensation program,” says an advisor in Vancouver.

“The salary is way too low,” complains a colleague in Ontario. “The bank is making some changes for exceptional performers, but I look for my clients’ needs first and I should be recognized for that.”

However, Wendy Hannam, executive vice president for domestic personal banking and distribution at Scotiabank, says client relationships are a factor in the annual bonus scheme. “The bonus is based on an individual’s performance against their objectives,” she says. “Every year, the objectives are determined between the manager and the executive; these objectives include sales, growth and customer service.”

In last place for compensation is Vancouver-based Coast Capital Savings Credit Union with its score of 6.8. It appears that Coast Capital account managers are still confused by the credit union’s three-tiered compensation system of base salary, corporate profitability program and production bonus. “The bonus pool is a complex animal. There is no consistency,” says a Coast Capital advisor in B.C. “It needs to be restructured completely.”

Sue Miller, Coast Capital’s sales manager for investment services, was hoping to hear otherwise: “We introduced the production bonus in the middle of 2006, so I don’t think advisors fully understood it when Investment Executive was doing the 2006 survey.”

Unfortunately, it appears much of that confusion still exists. IE