TORONTO — Royal Bank (TSX:RY) chief executive Gord Nixon earned $10.1 million last year, down from $11 million in 2010, according the bank's annual disclosure released Monday.

Nixon could have been paid more, but the bank's board noted RBC took a hit related to the sale of its U.S. regional retail banking operations and the resulting writeoff.

RBC's management proxy circular showed Nixon received a base salary of $1.5 million. He also received $5.1 million in stock- and option-based awards and a $1.75-million cash bonus.

That compared with a base salary of $1.4 million, plus $7.5 million in stock- and option-based awards and a $2.1-million cash bonus in 2010.

Nixon also received $1.05 million in pension value and $44,417 in other compensation for 2011 to bring the total value of his compensation package to nearly $11.2 million, down from just over $11.8 million in 2010.

He was the bank's top paid executive, beating out both Mark Standish and Doug McGregor, the co-heads of RBC Capital Markets.

Standish and McGregor both earned roughly $8.2 million for 2011, down from roughly $10.4 million and nearly $10.2 million in 2010 respectively.

For the year, Royal Bank earned $4.85 billion, down from $5.22 billion in 2010. Revenue grew to $27.43 billion from $26.08 billion.

Royal Bank is the country's largest bank by assets and market capitalization, and has 77,000 employees serving more than 18 million clients. The bank has operations across North America and 52 other countries.

Shares in the bank were up 18 cents at $53.51 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.