BAC Bank of America Corporation

By David Benoit and Ben Eisen 

Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. said Friday they had slashed their CEOs' 2020 pay.

At Citigroup, the bank cut Chief Executive Michael Corbat's pay 21% to $19.04 million, citing a consent order that regulators slapped on the bank in October. The bank reduced other executives' pay for the same reason, saying they shared responsibility for the problems. In the order, issued in October, regulators told Citigroup to fix its risk-management systems and flagged "significant ongoing deficiencies."

Mr. Corbat's pay included a $1.5 million salary, a $5.26 million cash bonus and $12.27 million in stock-based compensation.

The board said the bank's financial results in the pandemic were strong. However, the bank's risks and controls are one of the four "performance pillars" that determine Mr. Corbat's compensation.

Mr. Corbat will retire at the end of the month from the nation's third-biggest bank. He will be succeeded by Jane Fraser, the bank's president and the first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank.

Bank of America cut the pay of CEO Brian Moynihan by 7.5% to $24.5 million, citing the pandemic's impact on the company's financial performance. The bank's net income dropped by 35% in 2020 as it socked away money to prepare for soured loans. Its stock fell 14% over the course of the year.

Mr. Moynihan's pay includes $1.5 million of base salary and $23 million of restricted stock.

The bank's board members, who approved the pay package, said Mr. Moynihan's compensation also reflected how he steered the company through the pandemic. They said he strengthened capital and liquidity levels while also returning money to shareholders. The board also cited the company's efforts to help employees work from home and to defer loan payments for struggling borrowers.

Both Citigroup and Bank of America have to hit certain performance targets for the executives to get their full stock awards.

Other big-bank CEOs also got smaller paydays for 2020.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s David Solomon took a $10 million cut, down to $17.5 million, after his bank reached a settlement with prosecutors over its role in a global corruption ring. Wells Fargo & Co.'s Charles Scharf made $20.3 million, a 12% cut, after his bank's performance dropped.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon made $31.5 million for 2020, unchanged in a year when his bank had record revenue.

The only big-bank chieftain to get a raise was Morgan Stanley's James Gorman, who took the crown as the highest paid banker at $33 million, a 22% increase from the year before. Mr. Gorman last year inked two big acquisitions meant to continue to reshape his bank.

Citigroup's profit, like Bank of America's, fell sharply as the bank prepared for a wave of bad loans. Citigroup's profit was down 41% in 2020 and shares fell 23%, worse than rivals and the 14% drop in the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index. The bank scrapped profitability targets that executive pay had been tied to, citing the pandemic.

Since 2012, the year he became CEO, Mr. Corbat has been awarded some $160 million. Roughly two-thirds was in stock whose value has oscillated and would affect the amount he ultimately takes home.

Write to David Benoit at david.benoit@wsj.com and Ben Eisen at ben.eisen@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 12, 2021 18:52 ET (23:52 GMT)

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