Bank of America Cut CEO Brian Moynihan’s Salary by $2 Million in 2020
Brian Moynihan’s salary took a hit in 2020: a recent securities filing revealed that the Bank of America CEO’s compensation dropped by $2 million.
July 7 2021, Published 11:09 a.m. ET
As Bank of America’s earnings dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, so did CEO Brian Moynihan’s salary. In a securities filing submitted in Feb. 2021, Bank of America's board of directors stated that Moynihan’s 2020 salary was cut by $2 million.
After earning $26.5 million in 2019, the Boston-based CEO was paid $24.5 million in 2020. That amount included a base salary of $1.5 million and a stock package worth $23 million. The filing also revealed that the board reached the compensation decision after evaluating “many aspects of the company’s performance in 2020 given the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on financial performance, its clients, communities and its own employees.”
Bank of America’s board last cut Moynihan’s compensation in 2014
Moynihan became CEO of the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank in 2010, and since then, Bank of America's board had given him pay raises during most years. His compensation was $15 million in 2010, $7 million in 2011, $12 million in 2012, $14 million in 2013, $13 million in 2014, $16 million in 2015, $20 million in 2016, $23 million in 2017, $26.5 million in 2018 and 2019, according to The Charlotte Observer.
He’s not the only bank chief to get a pay reduction, though. Reuters reports that Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf’s compensation was cut by 12 percent in 2020, and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon’s compensation dropped 36 percent. Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, meanwhile, got a 22 percent cut in 2020 for a payday of $33 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The better news, reports the Observer, is that Bank of America’s headcount grew in 2020 after Moynihan promised the company would not cut any jobs. However, sources told Bloomberg that Bank of America did cut jobs in Feb. 2021, with the cuts affecting sales and trading, research, investment banking, and capital market employees.
Moynihan still has a reported net worth in the nine figures
In Jun. 2021, Wallmine estimated that Moynihan’s net worth was $107 million. The website reported that he owned more than 17,800 units of Bank of America stock.
According to a Bank of America press release, Moynihan joined FleetBoston Financial in 1993 and rose in the executive ranks at the bank, which Bank of America acquired in 2004. After the merger, Moynihan became Bank of America’s president of Global Wealth and Investment Management, and from 2007 to 2009, he served as president of Global Corporate and Investment Banking.
Moynihan became CEO after predecessor Ken Lewis stepped down. “Brian’s wide range of experience, his relationships inside and outside of the company, and his demonstrated ability to understand business dynamics and effect constructive change made him the best person for the position,” Dr. Walter E. Massey, then the chairman of the bank, said at the time.
In addition to serving as CEO and chairman role at Bank of America, Moynihan is a co-chair of the American Heart Association CEO Roundtable and a member of the Federal Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank, according to his official bio.