BofA CEO's Pay Held Steady Even as Stock Price Surged -- WSJ

By Ben Eisen 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (February 8, 2020).

Bank of America Corp. greenlighted a $26.5 million pay package for its top executive in 2019 after the bank's shares marked their best run in years.

Brian Moynihan is set to receive compensation that matches the preceding year's package. His pay includes a $1.5 million base salary and $25 million worth of restricted stock, the bank said in a regulatory filing Friday.

His 2019 earnings put him slightly below other Wall Street chiefs like JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s James Dimon, who made $31.5 million, and Morgan Stanley's James Gorman, who made $27 million.

In 2018, Mr. Moynihan was the 10th highest-paid among the 75 CEOs in the S&P 500 financial sector, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of pay data from MyLogIQ LLC.

Mr. Moynihan is now a decade into his tenure as CEO. For years, his pay lagged behind that of rivals as Bank of America struggled to rebound from the financial crisis and paid heavy fines to resolve issues from that era. But Mr. Moynihan eventually refocused the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank on its core consumer businesses.

The bank reported net income of $27.4 billion in 2019, down from 2018. When excluding a one-time charge, however, profit rose to a record $29.1 billion.

Bank of America's stock jumped more than 40% in 2019, its biggest annual rise since 2012, amid a broader rally in bank stocks. One reason for the move: Bank of America returned a record $34 billion to shareholders through stock repurchases and dividends. In the third quarter of last year, no S&P 500 company besides Apple Inc. bought back more of its stock, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Buybacks can boost stock prices by pulling shares out of the market, making per-share profit look better even in the absence of earnings growth. Still, the stock remains more than a third lower than its precrisis peak in 2006.

As in previous years, much of Mr. Moynihan's stock-based compensation is tied to the bank's performance. To unlock the compensation, the bank must meet certain performance targets over the next few years.

--Theo Francis contributed to this article.

Write to Ben Eisen at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 08, 2020 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)

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