Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, received a colossal $770 million in compensation last year, according to startling financial disclosures. The 69-year-old billionaire's pay package, comprising salary, bonuses, and substantial stock grants, underscores a period of extraordinary wealth generation at the top of Wall Street.
A New Era of Banking Deregulation
This windfall for banking leaders coincided with the Trump administration fostering a significantly more bank-friendly environment. The president moved to loosen the reins on numerous industry regulations, providing financial institutions with greater latitude to engage with riskier assets, including cryptocurrency.
In a major sector-shocking move, Trump signed an executive order in February 2025 that instituted a 180-day pause on all new investigations and enforcements under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The law, designed to prevent US businesses from bribing foreign officials, was put on hold for review.
The Department of Justice stated the order aimed to ensure the FCPA was not "stretched beyond proper bounds and abused." The White House argued the act had placed American companies at a competitive disadvantage globally, allowing the Attorney General to revise its guidelines to prioritise US economic and national security interests.
Banking Stocks and Executive Pay Soar
Amid this flourishing era for US banking, the market responded powerfully. The 'big bank' stocks collectively rose by 29 points in 2025, with JP Morgan's stock surging by 34 points in the same period.
Dimon was far from alone in his multi-million-pound haul. The chief executives of Citigroup, which saw its shares jump 65% following tens of thousands of job cuts, each earned approximately $100 million. Meanwhile, Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank reportedly secured $300 million, including a $30 million bonus, following the administration's approval of the company's acquisition of Discover Financial.
It is crucial to note that for all these executives, their disclosed earnings include paper gains from stocks they have not yet sold. Representatives for JPMorgan clarified that a significant portion of Dimon's gains was linked to shares he purchased nearly two decades ago.
Contrast with Broader Workforce and Political Dynamics
While top-tier earnings skyrocketed, it remains unclear what lower-level employees at these financial institutions earned. However, pay consultancy Johnson Associates anticipates their 2025 pay increases will range from 5% to 25% higher than in 2024.
"This has been brewing for a long time," noted Glenn Schorr, a longtime bank analyst at Evercore. The regulatory shift has clearly created a lucrative environment for banking leadership.
Interestingly, Dimon's financial benefit from Trump's policies comes despite a historically rocky relationship with the president. The pair appeared to set aside differences when Dimon visited the White House last summer and again more recently, where he discussed the economy, trade, and financial regulations with Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
