JPMorgan CEO Dimon gets $16 million in stock, options

Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, speaks at the Securities Industry and Financial Marketers Association annual meeting in New York,October 27, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N>, which reported $11.7 billion in profit in 2009, awarded Chief Executive Jamie Dimon a compensation package worth about $16 million.

Bankers' compensation has been a hot-button issue amid the financial crisis, as the U.S. government spent billions in taxpayer funds to prop up the banking system. JPMorgan, which in the summer returned the $25 billion it received from the U.S. Treasury, said Dimon, 53, will not take a cash bonus for the second year running.

The 195,704 shares Dimon received on Wednesday are restricted until January 2013, while the 563,562 so-called stock appreciation rights or options expire in January 2020 and have an exercise price of $43.20, according to an SEC filing.

The 195,704 shares were worth about $7.9 million at the market close on Wednesday. The options, according to a commonly used valuation method, could be worth around $8 million, according to compensation consultant Alan Johnson.

Dimon's total compensation for 2009 will be higher than last year, when he also did not get stock or option awards, but it is a far cry from the almost $30 million in cash, stock and options he received for 2007.

Pay for Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive at investment banking rival Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N), could overshadow Dimon's compensation.

Goldman is expected to slash Blankfein's bonus from the record $67.9 million he received two years ago, but he is still in the running to get more than $40 million for 2009, according to one compensation consultant. [ID:nN01100894] Goldman has not yet released details of its executives' pay.

Other top executives at JPMorgan also received payouts of restricted stock and options on Wednesday, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. JPMorgan's operating committee will receive about 75 percent of their total 2009 compensation in restricted stock and options, a spokesman said.

Separately, Dimon on Wednesday acquired about $10 million in JPMorgan stock through exercising expiring options.

BANKER OF THE YEAR

Dimon, who joined JPMorgan from Bank One after orchestrating the Chicago bank's sale in 2004, has guided the bank profitably through the financial crisis. JPMorgan also picked up troubled Bear Stearns in March 2008 and failed Seattle thrift Washington Mutual later that year.

Named Banker of the Year by American Banker magazine in December, Dimon has a reputation for being a straight-talker and he has been outspoken in his criticism of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and more recent proposals from Washington, such as capping the size of financial firms.

At a conference in San Francisco last month, Dimon defended the bank's pay policies and said he was "tired" of his employees being vilified over bonuses.

But Dimon also talks frequently about JPMorgan's need to be a "good corporate citizen" and his willingness to admit the bank made mistakes during the crisis has helped the second-largest U.S. bank's image.

When Wall Street executives appeared before a U.S. commission probing the financial crisis in January, Blankfein bore the brunt of criticism.

Shares in both JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Group outperformed the broad KBW Banks Index in 2009. JPMorgan shares climbed 32 percent that year, while Goldman Sachs stock doubled. The KBW Banks Index .BKX fell 3.6 percent in 2009.

(Reporting by Elinor Comlay; additional reporting by Steve Eder, editing by Dave Zimmerman)