Raymond James cut executive pay in 2020

Raymond James Financial Inc., with more than 8,000 financial advisers, cut the pay of senior executives in its fiscal year 2020, as the firm laid off employees and dealt with the business turmoil created by COVID-19.

In fiscal 2020, which ended Sept. 30, Raymond James CEO Paul Reilly had total compensation of $11.3 million, a decline of almost 17% compared to the prior year, according to the firm's annual proxy statement, which was filed on Friday.

Jeffrey Julien, executive vice president of finance at the firm, saw his total annual compensation decline by 46% to $2 million in fiscal 2020, while the compensation of James Bunn, president of global equities and investment banking, declined 12% to $4.4 million. Bella Allaire, executive vice president of technology and operations, had her total pay drop 11.4% last year, to $3.1 million.

Raymond James cut 500 jobs in September, or 4% of its workforce, to control costs during the pandemic. None of the employees whose jobs were eliminated were financial advisers, the company said at the time.

The last half of the year was a difficult one, the company reported in its proxy statement.

"After a strong start to fiscal 2020, the second half was difficult, as we faced the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic uncertainty and social unrest across the nation," according to the filing, but it said the company had "good financial results" and strong recruiting and retention of financial advisers.

Raymond James reported that this year is going to be a bumpy ride as well.  

"Moving forward, we expect to face continued headwinds in 2021 from a full year of lower short-term interest rates, and there remains a high degree of uncertainty about the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to a new U.S. administration," according to the proxy. "However, we believe that Raymond James is well positioned for growth."

[ESG Video: Stanford Seed: A community for entrepreneurs]