Bank Of America (NYSE: BAC) global banking and markets chief, Thomas Montag, is one of the many senior level executives that are being targeted by the Treasury Department’s pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg.
Montag joined Bank of America when BofA purchased Merril Lynch earlier in the year. Although Montag’s name wasn’t identified in Feinberg’s report, many sources including the Wall Street Journal, have reported that Montag’s name corresponds with the figures listed for employee number 1143 on the report.
According to the report, nearly all of Thomas Montag’s compensation comes in the form of performance-based stock. Montag’s official salary was listed at $500,000 per year, which is in-line with other Bank of America employees that were listed in the document.
It was originally reported that Feinberg had signed off on the package that Bank of America had proposed to pay Kenneth Lewis, but a few days later Feinberg allegedly came back and said “the deal is off.” Feinberg has publically stated that he frequently re-evaluates the figures used in his analysis.
The changing demands from the treasury department have lead to complaints from within Bank of America about how the pay-process is being handled. Many inside Bank of America worry that Feinberg’s power will continue in the future, even after Bank of America repays its taxpayer-funded federal aid.
Feinberg released a letter on Thursday about the banks initial compensation proposals, which included cash salaries between $700,000 to $950,000 and stock-based salaries ranging from $1.9 to $19 million for its top 13 employees. Feinberg stated that those numbers were too high and instead suggested that Bank of America senior level executives have cash salaries that are less than $500,000 and stock salaries that ranged between $1.7 and $9.3 million.
