U.S. Bancorp’s CEO pay increased 14% in 2024

CEO compensation doesn’t just reward annual results. The various components of executive compensation are for short-term, medium-term and long-term performance.

Increases in base salary, annual bonus and the amount realized from long-term equity awards all added up to a 14% increase in total compensation for U.S. Bancorp’s CEO Andrew Cecere in 2024.

Total compensation for year ended Dec. 31: $15,934,360

Salary: $1,400,000

Non-equity incentive pay: $4,929,400

Other compensation: $83,642

Exercised stock options: $96,354

Value realized on vesting shares: $9,424,964

CEO pay ratio: 215 to 1

Median employee pay: $90,217

Total 2014 shareholder return: $15.6%

Notes: U.S. Bancorp executives got increases in their base salary during 2024 to recognize “competitive market conditions.”

Cecere’s base salary increased by 3.7% or $50,000. Other executives got similar raises, except​ Gunjan Kedia, who got a $300,000 increase in her base salary to reflect her promotion to president last year.

She will likely get further adjustments to her overall compensation package as Kedia is set to succeed Cecere as chief executive of US Bancorp in April.

After adjusting for the MUFG Union Bank merger and loan-loss reserves, U.S. Bancorp’s adjusted earnings per share for the year of $3.83 was just shy of the target of $3.88.

That earned Cecere an annual bonus 30% higher than the year before. The value of his realized long-term equity awards increased 8% over the prior year.

The long-term equity compensation includes restricted stock awards, both time-based and performance-based, that vest after three years. Cecere earned $9.4 million from those awards and less than $100,000 from exercised stock options that reward longer-term performance.

The summary compensation table includes a calculation for pension values and other non-qualified earnings as part of total compensation.

The Minnesota Star Tribune does not include that accounting adjustment when counting total compensation.

Cecere joined U.S. Bancorp in 1985, and he’s been the CEO for the past eight years. Over the years he’s been eligible for pension and supplemental pension plans.

The proxy shows that Cecere’s accumulated pension and other supplemental benefits totaled $34.4 million at the end of 2024.