The Influence of the Board of Directors on the Executive Compensation in the Banking Industry

The objective of this study is to examine the effect of the attributes of the board of directors on the compensation of the CEO of thirty European commercial banks. This research uses a technique of static panel data over the period 2004-2009. The study was conducted on a sample of thirty banks in four European countries. The results of our study suggest that the relationship between the size of the Board and the CEO's compensation is positive and statistically significant. Similarly, our results show that the presence of a proportion of independent directors in the Board improves the compensation of the CEO. They also indicate that improving the compensation of the CEO is also due to his power in the Board since he is its chairman. This study shows that the Board of directors acts as the primary mechanism of internal control designed to align the shareholders and managers' conflicting interests. However, the Board has an important role in defining the executives' compensation; therefore, its power depends on the members that compose it. This study also indicates that the independence quality of the board's members affects the compensation policy to improve the CEO's compensation depending on the banking performance. Moreover, this study suggests that the banking performance is related to the CEO's compensation through the attributes of the board. It therefore gives an overview of the impact of a complementary relationship between the board mechanism and that of the CEO's compensation. This study provides an overview on the complementary between the mechanism of the board and the CEO's compensation