Bucking against the executive-pay grain, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) raised a few eyebrows when they announced they had paid president of their global banking and markets unit, Thomas Montag, $29.9 million in 2009, diverting from the trend of much lower pay during the economic crisis.
In the recent regulatory filing, Bank of America revealed that Montag was awarded far beyond what even CEO Brian Moynihan received, which was comparatively low at $6.51 million for the year. The payout to Montag was among the highest of all bankers in 2009, if not the highest overall.
The pay package evidently was promised to Montag when he was hired by Merrill Lynch in 2008 and was grandfathered in at Bank of Ameria when they acquired the company.
Per the deal with Merrill Lynch before being taken over by BofA, Montag has been awarded $20 million in restricted stock, which the company was quick to communicate in its filing, assuring shareholders the pay for Montage was in primarily in place before he came to the company.
As far as Montag’s performance, it seems he has earned his wages, s the global banking and markets unit generated hefty profits of $10.2 billion in 2009, helping the company make up for big losses in its credit card and residential loan divisions.
While criticisms have already started of his compensation package, with some saying Montag was paid for just showing up on the job, the results contradict this, and reveal he performed strongly for Bank of America and got results which helped the company significantly in 2009.
Most other large banks and financial institutions had much lower compensation packages in 2009, although there were exceptions to the rule based on strong performances from executives in their respective business units within the companies.
