Here’s which securities commission head made the most

It pays to run a securities regulator in the country’s four largest provinces, a Conseiller.ca review has found.

In 2015, the country’s highest-paid securities chief was the Alberta Securities Commission’s CEO, William Rice (since replaced by Stan Magidson). Rice earned $577,092.74 a year.

That’s more than the four lowest-paid commission heads combined, and almost $80,000 a year more than Brenda Leong of the British Columbia Securities Commission, who earned $499,251 and is next on the list.

Are these salaries reasonable? Michel Mailloux, a financial planner and trainer in financial ethics, says they’re nothing to be shocked about. “What is important, I think, is to look at the ratio between the executive’s salary and the average salary of the organization’s employees. Here, it should be a ratio ranging between five and eight approximately,” he estimates, which he says is acceptable.

To read more analysis from Conseiller.ca by reporter Jean-François Venne, go here (en français).

And see the national regulators’ 2015 salaries below:

• Alberta Securities Commission: William Rice, $577,092.74 (Rice has since been replaced by Stan Magidson)

• British Columbia Securities Commission: Brenda Leong, $499,251

• Ontario Securities Commission: Maureen Jensen, $477,390.22

• Autorité des marches financiers: Louis Morisset, $414,758

• Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan: Roger Sobotkiewicz, $176,496

• Manitoba Securities Commission: Don Murray, $160,000 (salary for 2016)

• New Brunswick Financial and Consumer Services Commission: Rick Hancox, ranging from $131,957 to $164,703

• Securities Commission of Newfoundland: John O’Brien, $104,230

• Prince Edward Island Securities Office: Steve Dowling, ranging from $99,163 to $128,967

• Nova Scotia Securities Commission: Paul E. Radford, $91,533.48

Also read:

Bank earnings roundup

Wealth management earnings roundup

Executive pay information from CIBC, Laurentian, BMO, RBC, Scotiabank and TD.