Bank boss pay surges as big bonuses return to the City and Wall Street
Top bank chiefs are being handed pay packets that look increasingly like the pre-2008 era. New disclosures from NatWest and Lloyds in the UK, and Citigroup in the US, show sharp rises in total compensation and bonus payouts.
The jump is fuelling a renewed debate about fairness, risk and whether the lessons of the financial crisis are fading.
NatWest chief lands biggest package since Fred Goodwin
NatWest said its chief executive, Paul Thwaite, received £6.6m for 2025. That is a 33% rise on his 2024 total of £4.9m.
It is also the largest payout for a NatWest chief executive since Fred Goodwin took home £7.7m in 2006. Goodwin later became synonymous with the bank’s collapse and the £45bn taxpayer bailout during the 2008 crisis.
The UK government sold its final NatWest shares in May, completing the bank’s return to private ownership.
Lloyds pay hits the highest level in a decade
Lloyds Banking Group said its chief executive, Charlie Nunn, received £7.4m for 2025. That included £4.4m in bonuses and marked a 20% rise.
Lloyds said it last paid a higher amount in 2015, when the then chief executive António Horta-Osório received £8.7m. Lloyds returned to full private ownership in 2017 after a 2008 bailout linked to its takeover of HBOS.
The bank is also proposing a new pay policy that could lift Nunn’s maximum payout to £17.7m if performance targets are met and the share price keeps rising.
Citi’s Jane Fraser posts a record $42m payday
Citigroup disclosed that its chief executive, Jane Fraser, was paid $42m for 2025. The figure is described as a record for her role at the bank.
Her package included a $1.5m base salary, with the rest made up of bonuses and incentives tied to performance. The rise came after a strong year for Citi’s share price and progress on a long-running restructuring.
The number places Fraser among the highest-paid leaders on Wall Street.
Bonus pools swell across the sector
The pay disclosures sit alongside rising bonus pools, a key measure of how widely banks are sharing profits internally.
NatWest reported a group bonus pool of £495m for 2025, up 10.8%. The bank also disclosed that 89 “material risk takers” earned more than €1m. The term refers to senior staff whose decisions can materially affect a bank’s risk profile.
Lloyds reported a £405m bonus pool.
Barclays has also lifted its bonus pool to £2.2bn for 2025, up 15%, alongside a rise in annual profits to £9.1bn.
The bonus cap is gone and the numbers are climbing
A major driver in the UK is the removal of the banker bonus cap. The cap had limited variable pay, such as bonuses, to twice base salary. It was dismantled using post-Brexit powers, as ministers and regulators argued the UK needed to compete for global talent.
At NatWest, the change helped lift Thwaite’s total pay. His package included a £1.1m salary, a £1.1m fixed share allowance, pensions and benefits, plus a £4m bonus. Part of that payout was linked to a long-term incentive plan.
NatWest also reported £7.7bn in pre-tax profits for 2025, up 24% on the year before.
Executives defend the link between pay and performance
Thwaite was asked directly whether his pay returning towards pre-crisis levels was appropriate. He said senior roles in banking are “very well paid” and that he understood the public reaction. He also pointed to shareholder votes and performance metrics as the basis for decisions.
That argument is likely to be tested again at annual general meetings this spring. Investors will weigh returns against reputational risk. Politicians will face questions about whether deregulation is pushing rewards higher without improving resilience.
For now, the direction is clear. Bank boss pay is climbing fast again, powered by profits, swelling bonuses and looser rules on variable compensation.