Hudson City Bancorp's CEO Receives $7.9M In Comp
The Associated Press
03/23/09 - 10:05 AM EDT
By STEPHEN BERNARD
NEW YORK (AP) Ronald Hermance, chairman, president and chief executive of Hudson City Bancorp Inc., received compensation in 2008 that the company valued as a 10 percent higher than in the previous year, according to an analysis of a regulatory filing.
Hermance received a compensation package valued at $7.9 million in 2008, compared with $7.2 million in 2007, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite the increase, Hermance's compensation is still short of the $9.2 million he received in 2006.
Hermance's base salary increased 12 percent in 2008 to $1.4 million, from about $1.2 million a year earlier. He received a 13 percent boost in his performance-based bonus, which totaled $2.3 million.
Other compensation, which included contributions to retirement accounts, charitable donations and other perks, totaled $664,588 in 2008. Hermance received $623,768 in those types of perks in 2007.
The remainder of Hermance's compensation package was a stock option award that was valued at $3.6 million at the time it was made. The value of Hudson City Bancorp stock has fallen since then, meaning the options might have little current value.
Unlike most banks, Hudson City Bancorp's stock price actually rose in 2008, increasing more than 6 percent. But, its shares have lost 31 percent of their value since the beginning of 2009 as nearly all banks' share prices have been battered by escalating concerns over the financial sector regardless of their current performance.
The Paramus, N.J.-based bank has been among the best-performing banks during the ongoing credit crisis. For the full year, the bank earned $445.6 million, or 90 cents per share, up from a profit of $295.9 million, or 58 cents per share, in 2007.
Hudson City Bancorp has sidestepped much of the problems the banking industry is facing because it never originated the riskiest forms of mortgages that have led some banks to fail and others to be seriously impaired.
The Associated Press formula is designed to isolate the value the company's board placed on the executive's total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive's compensation in the previous fiscal year.
