What's a banker got to do to get a big raise around here?
You could ask Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan who saw a 17% increase in his annual pay after giving shareholders one of the best years since the financial crisis. There was no cash bonus but Moynihan's salary and stock-based compensation did see a nice jump.
BofA's board awarded Moynihan with a $1.5 million salary and some $12.5 million in restricted shares for a $14 million total. Last year Moynihan received $12.1 million which included a $950,000 salary.
The raise comes after a stellar year for the bank where shares jumped 37%.
The glowing stock performance follows a few very difficult years at the bank. The affects of its Countrywide and Merrill Lynch acquisitions lingered and Moynihan was pressured to revive the struggling bank and increase capital by increasing earnings, selling off non-core business units and cutting costs. Back in 2011 BofA shared traded for around $5 and investors questioned Moynihan’s ability to do the job.
Since then the bank has recovered nicely and Moynihan has followed through on his promise to streamline the bank and cut costs. Net income jumped to $11.4 billion last year from $4.2 billion in 2012 and $1.4 billion in 2011. Non-interest expenses are down to $69 billion from $77 billion in 2011. Headcount is down from 267,000 at the end of 2012 to 242,000 at the end of last year.
Moynihan still has work to do but he's proven to investors his ability to execute on the"Project New BAC Program." Somehow though, it wasn't enough to score Moynihan a bigger pay package than JPMorgan Chase chief, Jamie Dimon, who was awarded $20 million for his work in 2013.
Dimon and JPM's 2013 was ugly. The bank reported its first ever quarterly loss under Dimon’s lead. It was at the center of several high profile investigations, and ended up shelling out some $20 billion to settle legal claims. Still, JPM’s board awarded its CEO a 74% raise, which includes over $18 million in restricted stock.
In all, Dimon's pay package exceeds Moynihan's by more than 40%.
That's Wall Street for you.
