Bank of America (BAC) co-Chief Operating Officer Thomas K. Montag received a 21% raise to $14.5 million for 2012, topping his boss Brian T. Moynihan for the third straight year.
Montag, 56, got a $5.46 million cash bonus for 2012, $8.19 million in restricted stock units and an $850,000 base salary, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender said today in a regulatory filing. That compares with the $12 million awarded to Moynihan, 53, giving the chief executive officer a raise of more than 70% from 2011.
"This says to everybody that Brian is OK with Tom getting a superior compensation; Montag is doing a great job in a business that's very tough right now," said Jeanne Branthover, managing director at Boyden Global Executive Search Ltd. in New York. "However, Brian is catching up with him in pay as other divisions are starting to recover."
Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. lender, has relied on Montag's investment-banking operations to support the company while Moynihan dealt with struggling consumer units that handle mortgages and credit cards. Montag is the former head of trading at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. who joined Bank of America during its 2009 takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co.
Income at Bank of America's global banking and markets divisions slipped 3.6% last year to $6.8 billion as revenues from equities sales and trading dropped 24%. Montag contended with "challenging economic periods, delivering solid revenues, while reducing noninterest expense," the lender said in the filing.
Moynihan wasn't the only bank CEO who earned less than Montag. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) chief Jamie Dimon's pay was cut 50% to $11.5 million after a review concluded he bore responsibility for the $6.2 billion "London Whale" trading loss. Morgan Stanley's James Gorman saw his compensation drop 7.1% to $9.75 million. Citigroup (C) gave new CEO Michael Corbat $11.5 million, excluding the value of profit- sharing plans.
David Darnell, the 60-year-old Bank of America co-COO who runs retail banking and wealth management, got a 19% raise to $9.5 million in total compensation. Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson, 48, got a 10% raise to $11 million. While the lender disclosed the size of executives' restricted-stock grants last month, it didn't release total compensation figures until today.
The annual base salaries of Montag and Darnell for 2013 rose last month to $1 million from $850,000 each, the company said. Moynihan's base salary rose to $1.5 million from $950,000.
The figures represent what the bank's board decided top executives deserved for their performance last year. Bank of America also released calculations conforming to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission standards that reflect the awards that vested during the year, as well as changes in pension plans and perks such as the use of corporate aircraft.
Under that method, Moynihan's 2012 compensation was $8.3 million, compared with $8.1 million the previous year. Montag received $14.4 million, compared with $14.3 million in 2011. Most of the compensation of top executives is in the form of share units to be paid in the future if they meet performance targets.
Moynihan's use of corporate aircraft was valued at $477,060, while Thompson's was pegged at $5,237.
