BAC Bank of America Corporation

By Christina Rexrode and Peter Rudegeair 

Bank of America Corp.'s Brian Moynihan is set to get his biggest payday as chairman and chief executive of the firm.

Mr. Moynihan, who took the top job at the nation's second-largest bank by assets in 2010, is receiving a pay package worth $16 million for 2015, most of it in the form of restricted stock, the firm disclosed in a regulatory filing Friday. That is a 23% increase from the previous year, when he earned $13 million.

To get the full $16 million, Mr. Moynihan and the Charlotte, N.C., bank would have to meet certain performance metrics.

The payout for Mr. Moynihan includes $14.5 million of restricted stock. Mr. Moynihan also was paid $1.5 million in salary, the same as the previous year. He doesn't get a cash bonus.

For 2015, the bank reported its biggest annual profit in nearly a decade, a sign that it may be putting some of its crisis-era legal and regulatory headaches behind it. But annual revenue fell, and some analysts have questioned how much longer the bank can keep cutting costs, a key tenet of Mr. Moynihan's strategy.

The bank also is under pressure to get good marks on the Federal Reserve's stress test after fumbling the past two submissions; the next submission is due in April. The stock last year fell 5.9%, more than the 1.6% decline in the KBW Nasdaq Bank index.

For 2014, the board cut Mr. Moynihan's pay to $13 million from $14 million, in a year when the bank had to pay a record-setting fine to the Justice Department over mortgage-securities allegations. The board also promoted Mr. Moynihan to chairman that year.

Mr. Moynihan's pay raise wasn't as big as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. CEO James Dimon's, who will receive $27 million for 2015, up 35%. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley cut the 2015 pay of their CEOs, a reflection of tough conditions for Wall Street businesses such as bond trading.

At Goldman, CEO Lloyd Blankfein's pay package dropped 4% to $23 million, while Morgan Stanley's James Gorman took a 7% pay cut to $21 million.

Mr. Moynihan's largest pay package previously was the $14 million he was awarded for 2013.

Bank stocks are down across the industry so far this year, amid worries about low interest rates and a global economic slowdown, though Bank of America's decline has been steeper than some of its peers. Its shares are down 29% for the year, compared with 19% for the KBW index.

Whether Mr. Moynihan receives the maximum amount of compensation under the latest pay package depends on hitting goals for return on assets, a profitability metric, and growth in adjusted tangible book value. Bank of America would need to earn an average return on assets of 0.80% over the next three years for Mr. Moynihan to get the maximum payout. Last year, the bank's return on assets was 0.74%.

Write to Christina Rexrode at christina.rexrode@wsj.com and Peter Rudegeair at Peter.Rudegeair@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 12, 2016 18:20 ET (23:20 GMT)

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