Bank of America CEO pay jumped 77 percent

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan saw his compensation jump 77 percent last year as the company's fortunes improved.

Moynihan's total compensation was $13.1 million, according to an Associated Press calculation based on a filing made by the company on Friday.

The bulk of his pay was $11.1 million worth of stock awards granted in February 2013. He also had a base salary of almost $1.5 million. Company perks totaled $497,751, most of which was for personal use of the company plane.

Bank of America's finances have been improving. Last year its profit more than tripled to $10.08 billion, and it has been cutting staff and focusing on its core businesses. Its balance sheet has been improving as well.

Bank of America's board cited its improving balance sheet as a factor in Moynihan's pay, saying the company cut long-term debt by $25 billion last year. Bank of America stock rose 34 percent last year. The board also credited him with helping bring about the company's lowest loan losses since 2005. Moynihan, 54, has "continued to make strong progress" in building "a culture of global risk management accountability across our businesses," the company said in its proxy statement.

The company is planning to hold its annual shareholder meeting on May 7 in Charlotte, N.C.

The Associated Press formula calculates an executive's total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest that the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits. That makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The value that a company assigned to an executive's stock and option awards for 2013 was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over time. Companies use one of several formulas to calculate that value. However, the number is just an estimate, and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company's stock in the years after the awards are granted. Most stock compensation programs require an executive to wait a specified amount of time to receive shares or exercise options.

WSOC