No pay for Bank of America CEO in '09

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-16 15:55

Bank of America's Ken Lewis joins TARP recipient financial institution leaders before they testify before House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this February 11, 2009 file photo. [Agencies]

NEW YORK: Capping a year in which he faced shareholder fury, regulatory scrutiny and was stripped of his chairman post, outgoing Bank of America Corp. CEO Ken Lewis will get no salary or bonus for 2009 under an agreement with the government's pay czar.

Kenneth Feinberg, the US Treasury Department's special master for compensation who is scrutinizing pay packages at bailed-out banks, suggested that Lewis should get no pay for the year. Lewis agreed, Bank of America spokesman Robert Stickler said Thursday.

In fact, Lewis will pay back about $1 million he has received so far out of a $1.5 million annual salary.

"He will write a check to the company," Stickler said, adding that Lewis agreed to the proposal because he felt it was not in the bank's best interest "to get into a dispute with the paymaster."

The clawback provision doesn't apply to Lewis' previously negotiated retirement package, estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

Wall Street has been eagerly awaiting Feinberg's decisions about pay for 75 of the highest-earning executives at seven firms that got the most taxpayer money. Other companies under Feinberg's scrutiny include American International Group Inc., General Motors, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial.

Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams declined to comment on Lewis' compensation, saying only that Feinberg would seek to "strike the right balance" in setting pay for top executives of firms that received significant government help.