In Brief: BankBoston CEO's Pay Jumped 27% in 1997

BankBoston Corp. boosted the pay of chief executive officer Charles K. Gifford to $3.3 million in 1997, a 27% increase over a year earlier.

According to the company's proxy statement filed Wednesday, Mr. Gifford was also granted options on 73,100 shares, with an exercise price of $69.625 a share. In addition to his salary and bonus, Mr. Gifford exercised options on 143,290 shares valued at $6.04 million, according to the filing. Mr. Gifford assumed the chairmanship of BankBoston on Jan. 1.

In addition to his salary, bonus, and stock options, Mr. Gifford received tax offset payments worth nearly $390,000 connected with his exercising stock options in 1996.

The proxy also stated that Henrique de Campos Meirelles, president and chief operating officer, was paid $2.6 million in salary and bonus in 1997. That is a 35% increase over his 1996 pay of $1.93 million.

Mr. Meirelles, who has helped build the bank's sizable Latin American operations, also received $472,000 in additional payments. Of those payments, $54,000 was for rent-free lease of his residence in Brazil and the rest included an interest-free loan from the banking company for the purchase and improvement of his new residence in Boston.

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