LPL Financial's new CEO Dan Arnold to receive big pay hike in 2017

Dan Arnold, the newly appointed chief executive of LPL Financial Holdings Inc., is staring at a big pay day in 2017. Replacing Mark Casady as chief executive, Mr. Arnold is slated to receive $5.4 million in total compensation next year, according to a company filing on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That's almost three times what Mr. Arnold earned in 2015, when he received total compensation of $1.85 million, according to LPL's most recent proxy statement. LPL has not yet filed with the SEC details about compensation for top executives in 2016. The company announced the change in leadership earlier this month. Mr. Arnold will become CEO on January 3. Mr. Arnold began 2015 as LPL's chief financial officer but was then promoted to president in March when Robert Moore left the firm. Widely considered to be Mr. Casady's heir apparent at the time, Mr. Moore is now the CEO of the Cetera Financial Group. LPL spokesman Jeff Mochal did not comment about Mr. Arnold's compensation package for next year. While it appears that Mr. Arnold is receiving a significant pay increase, his compensation plan for 2017 will fall short of what Mr. Casady received in 2015. That year, Mr. Casady had total compensation of $5.7 million, according to LPL's proxy. Starting in the new year, Mr. Arnold will receive an annual base salary of $800,000; a target annual cash bonus worth potentially $1.8 million; and a long-term incentive compensation award, half in stock options and half in performance-based units, potentially worth $2.8 million. Mr. Arnold will also receive in February a one-time grant of restricted stock units that vest over time and therefore would not have an impact on what he earned next year. Those restricted stock units have a value of $1.5 million, with one-third of the units vesting on the third, fourth and fifth anniversaries of the grant date. LPL Financial is the largest independent broker-dealer, working with more than 16,000 affiliated registered reps and advisers. (More: LPL Financial's problems keep piling up)