RBC's Gordon Nixon, BNS's Richard Waugh, TD's Ed Clark Among Top 10 highest-paid banking executives in North America

Richard Nixon                   Richard Waugh                    Ed Clark

New survey says Canadian bankers ranked among some of the highest-paid banking executives in North America last year, with three in the top 10. A Bloomberg Markets magazine survey puts Royal Bank's Gordon Nixon in fourth spot with a total pay package of $13.1 million — up 25 per cent from 2011, when he was in eighth place.

Bank of Nova Scotia's Richard Waugh was seventh with $11.5 million, followed by the TD Bank's Ed Clark, in eighth place with $11.2 million. Clark's pay actually went down by almost five per cent from the year before, as did that of the other three Canadian bank CEO's on Bloomberg's top 20 list.

CIBC's Gerald McCaughey took home $9.6 million, nearly eight per cent less the year before, which put him 11th on the list. Bank of Montreal head William Downe took in $9.5 million, which put him 12th, and National Bank's Louis Vachon was 17th at $7.5 million.

However, no Canadian bank CEO came close to matching the salary of the list's top earner, Lloyd Blankfein, who was paid $26.9 million — a 73 per cent raise for his work in turning around the fortunes of Goldman Sachs.