Loan Officer Compensation Rises in 2013

Among bank employees, residential mortgage loan officers have experienced the greatest compensation increase over the past four years--35.6 percent, including base pay and incentive pay, according to the latest Comprehensive Financial Institutions Compensation Survey from ""Crowe Horwath LLP,"":http://www.crowehorwath.com/ a national public accounting consulting firm based in Chicago. The survey includes data from 293 financial institutions.

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""Following the recession, financial regulations forced a shift away from incentive pay and toward improving base salaries for mortgage originators,"" ""said"":http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bank-compensation-survey-indicates-job-market-stability-221346821.html Tim Reimink, senior consultant at Crowe Horwath.

""Now that banks have had time to adjust their compliance initiatives to these regulations, they can once again use discretionary pay and still be compliant,"" he added.

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As evidence of this trend, the survey revealed that this year, base salaries for residential mortgage loan officers declined 4.5 percent, but total pay increased 7.7 percent.

Part of the rise in compensation for mortgage loan officers is the result of the refinance boom that resulted from record-low interest rates, according to Crowe Horwath.

The survey also revealed a 4 percent increase in employee turnover at both large and small banks this year. This follows a notable decline in employee turnover during the recession.

""While some of this turnover was driven by staff-reduction efforts, the greater majority was voluntary,"" Reimink observed.

The fact that this year's turnover is largely voluntary is significant because it ""reflects the recovery in the financial services industry as people feel more comfortable looking for a new job,"" Reimink said.

Over the past three years, non-officer turnover at large banks was a little over 18 percent, while at small banks turnover among non-officers was 14.8 percent.

While the Crowe Horwath survey makes no future projections, it remains to be seen what the future holds for mortgage loan officers as refinances die down.

Wells Fargo is already ""reportedly"":https://themreport.com/articles/report-wells-fargo-to-cut-2300-production-jobs-2013-08-26 laying off 2,300 loan officers as refinance volumes decline.