If it isn't clear already, it should be now. Bank of America's (BAC -0.13%) CEO Brian Moynihan is more than willing to take it for the team.
Earlier this week, Reuters reported that B of A has enacted a new compensation policy under which Moynihan will be required to hold "shares likely worth millions of dollars for at least a year after he retires." The previous policy mandated that he need only hold onto company-granted stock until his retirement.
And today we learned that, once again, he wasn't the highest paid executive in the C-suite. For the third year in a row, that honor went to Thomas Montag, the Co-COO in charge of the investment banking operations. Montag had previously been the head of trading at Goldman Sachs before joining then-independent Merrill Lynch in 2008 prior to its acquisition by B of A.
2012 Compensation of B of As Top 5 Executives | Create infographics.
As you can see in the chart above, Moynihan's $12 million in total compensation was far overshadowed by Montag's $14.5 million. "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," a Wall Street executive told Bloomberg News. "However, Brian is catching up with him in pay as other divisions are starting to recover."
On top of this, as the chart similarly illustrates, Moynihan graciously (at least in relation to the other executives) accepted restricted stock in lieu of a cash bonus. While all of the other named executives received between $2.46 million and $5.46 million in cold, hard cash, Moynihan took his annual incentive in cash-settled restricted stock units, further lashing his personal fortune to the success of B of A.
At the end of the day, it's hard to beat this structure for shareholders, as it shows at the very least that the person manning the ship is, in fact, in the same boat as the other investors.
