Market Research
Wall Street’s Wealthiest Execs Are About To Get Richer

As bonus season approaches and the economy continues to slowly rebound, the wealthiest executives at America's largest banks and financial institutions are poised to get much richer—despite the country’s seemingly endless loathing of Wall Street.
Driving the surge in wealth: cash bonuses and rising financial stocks.
According to Wealth-X estimates, the top tycoons at the 10 biggest banks and asset managers on Wall Street - including Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Larry Fink of BlackRock and Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan - have an average net worth of $210 million.
Their combined net worth is at least $2.1 billion when accounting for shares and options in their publicly-traded banks, residential and commercial property, art collections, cash and other investable assets. These ultra high net worth individuals have an average liquid net worth of $75 million - a number that will surely grow as large bonuses will likely remain the norm in the coming months.
Not surprisingly, Main Street has a problem with Wall Streeters getting wealthier. According to a recent Bloomberg National Poll, more than 70 per cent of Americans believe large bonuses should be banned this year at Wall Street firms that took taxpayer dollars to stabilize their operations during the crash of 2008 and recession of 2009.
But the advisors managing the money of America’s richest don’t agree: “The notion that Wall Street’s top executives, traders and producers won’t be getting a bonus this season is absurd,” a prominent wealth manager focused on financial executives recently told me. “Most financial executives are going to have a very happy holiday and a tremendous 2011.”
Financial stocks are also perched to soar in the next 12 months, further padding the personal balance sheets of the chief bankers--along with their fellow dealmakers, traders and investment bankers.
Surging bank stocks will also unlock some hidden wealth for many UHNW individuals at large financial institutions, as most of the CEOs own out-of-the-money options that will become valuable again.
“I think many of these CEOs could see their net worth double in the next year,” says the wealth manager, who claims to manage money for several of the top bankers and requested anonymity as a result. “So long as the economy doesn’t fall off another cliff, I think there are a lot of opportunities out there for advisors looking to land big clients.”
Obtaining robust intelligence on Wall Street's ultra rich has become an important strategic factor to successful private wealth management firms. All organizations should consider aligning their intelligence gathering with the best opportunities for increasing assets under management as executive wealth continues to grow in the financial industry.
Key Stats on the Top Ten Financial CEOs On Wall Street:
Average Net Worth: $210 million
Combined Net Worth: $2.1 billion
Average Liquid Net Worth: $75 million
Combined Liquid Net Worth: $755 million
Matthew Miller is the Chief Research Officer of Wealth-X. He is the former Global Wealth Editor of Forbes.