US Bankers' Pay Is World's Highest—by Far

US bank CEOs are paid drastically more than their counterparts around the world. The CEO of Commercial Bank of China, the largest bank in the world, brings home just $234,700 a year—or roughly 2% of JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon’s $19.6 million haul. The US has only four of the world’s 20 biggest banks, but all four are among the top six in CEO compensation, says a Reuters analysis.

Outside of China, all of the CEOs made more than $1 million, but still well below US levels. The highest paid non-American was Banco Santander SA’s Alfredo Saenz at $13.66 million, and pay fell swiftly from there. “US executive pay levels have always dwarfed pay for companies elsewhere,” says one Wall Street critic. Yet “somehow they manage to find people who can run major global firms while making a fraction of what” the Americans make. (More executive compensation stories.)