Clark Consulting has unveiled 2009 financial services and insurance results, the first of four companion pieces to the fourteenth edition of executive benefits-A Survey of Current Trends. Each piece in the series provides a depth look at the survey results for specific industries, including manufacturing, retail and energy and utilities.
The company said that in general, findings for the financial services and insurance sectors are consistent with overall survey results that, although developments in the US economy over the past two years have affected executive benefits, employers continue to recognize the value of market-driven executive benefits plans which are adequately funded.
According to company, the goal of survey is to identify how corporate America is providing certain nonqualified benefits to its executives. It focuses on plan prevalence, design features, financing and administration within the two main types of nonqualified plans: nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans and supplemental executive retirement plans (SERPs).
Kurt Laning, president of Clark Consulting, said: “The financial services and insurance sectors have been hit particularly hard by the ongoing economic challenges, as well as regulatory and public concerns about compensation practices. In this environment it might be tempting to freeze or scale down executive benefits but generally that is seen as a shortsighted approach.
“We feel that the companies that will emerge the strongest from the current turbulence and in the best position to take advantage of the recovery are those with the strongest leadership and teams.”