Ken Lewis Bonus: BofA CEO's $53 Million Pension Plan

For those of you worried about Ken Lewis' financial well-being since his announcement on Wednesday night that he was stepping down as Bank of America's CEO, rest easy: he's set to walk away with a $53 million pension plan. Fortune reports that this money will come from a pension plan, frozen years ago, that awarded certain top executives with extra benefits.

Ironically, BofA decided to freeze this so-called supplemental executive retirement plan at the same time it got rid of golden parachutes, citing the need to better align executive compensation with investor returns. By any measure, those have been poor at BofA of late....

But before BofA made its compensation switch, Lewis had participated for more than a decade in the supplemental pension plan -- racking up the more than $50 million supplemental plan account.

That $53 million isn't all Lewis will be walking away with -- in addition to retirement benefits, there are millions in accumulated stock and other compensation. As the Fortune piece notes, assessing Lewis' "walking away pay is an inexact science." A Reuters piece puts Lewis' total at $125 million, and adds that he may be facing a "reckoning with the U.S. government's pay czar [Kenneth Feinberg]."

The agreements governing Lewis's severance package pre-date Feinberg's appointment by President Barack Obama in June. But Congress gave the pay czar broad authority to issue advisory opinions that could impact Lewis.

Feinberg, who declined to comment for Reuters' story, is reviewing pay packages for the 25 highest-paid employees at seven companies that needed extraordinary government assistance, including Bank of America. He is expected to begin releasing a first wave of pay rulings by mid-October.

Leading up to his retirement, Lewis was under siege for months over his handling of BoA's takover of Merril Lynch and the billion dollar bonuses awarded to Lynch execs just before the company came under BoA's control.

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Comments

[Bruce Fenton]

Its odd to see people blaming the company, the executives etc etc
Blame belongs one place more than others: Congress- it is they who gave OUR money to these people

[Tunde15]

Maybe Obama should invite him to the White House for a beer? This is NOT the change I voted for Mr. President.

[Jimboy17]

I truly beleive that when this story comes to a close, the wickedness and greed of this man and his ilk will be epic in proportions. They live under the curse of their indolence, greed and misanthropy.

[lightningbolt]

Everyone who got bonuses paid for with bailout money is a thief. They should all be in jail. But, of course, they own both the democratic and republican parties so justice will not be carried out unless the people carry it out themselves.

[daveschwartz007]

These are strange times we live in. No one seems to care or believe they are powerless to fight the fraud and corruption out there. This is a perfect example. BAC stock price is now at 1995 levels,investors ove this time have made nothing and yet the CEO has made at least 250mil in salary,bonuses and stock options. He now resigns because he knows its all about to hit the fan. Either he was forced to lie about Merrill losses or was forced to by the gov't. He will now receive $53mil in retirement benefit and could cash out another $70mln in stock awards. This is an inditement against mgmt,the board,employees and even shareholders who let this happen. The only way to own stock nowadays is to receive it from a company,don't buy stock or mutual funds.

[chasedeconomy]

Everything but the little people have become too big to fail

good articles; http://iamned.blogspot.com

Everyday we pay the consequences of Reaganomics

[Bruce Fenton]

If Reaganomics was followed these companies would all be out of business, not getting bonuses

[SteveBerk]

"Main Street" hopes that Ken Lewis enjoys retirement and the $100 million he is expected to receive in stock and compensation – money that cannot be touched by payment czar Kenneth Feinberg.

Perhaps he can use that money and business acumen to start a foundation –that trains bankers in compliance and business ethics … might be a nice start.

Steve Berk
berklawdc.com
avoiceformainstreet.com

[bola47]

this man belongs in jail and his 53 million should be taken by the treasury dept. as his fine.

[Musiker]

Un-friggin­'-believab­le! And, totally disgusting! The entire board needs to be voted out!

[Haditup2here]

I say let him enjoy it while it last . . . . . then sue him until he becomes broke.

[ejhickey]

another person added to the unemployment statistics

[themodernleader]

In this country the only successful commerical enterprises, aside from predatory domestic and international corporations, are the big central banks, and the Obama Administration's generousity is propping up their success. That much of their income derives from criminal conduct is never mentioned. A CEO of a criminal enterprise who receives a pension plan of $53 million plus while the ordinary Americans receive pink slips and welfare checks tells me that there is something haywire in our national government. For certain, it is not a democratic government.

[schatsie]

53 million dollars from the PAYROLL TAX SURPLUS (the most regressive tax in any of the developed countries) to the RICH BASTERDS bank account...­.THANKS WASHINGTON!!!

[nixrox04]

I agree with most of the posts. Complaints on a web site, however, will change little about our government coziness with corporate America. We can change it!

V O T E.

Vote everyone of them out of office and deny the wealthy elite trying to buy their way into office and power. Examples such as Bloomberg, Whitman and the rest of them are confident they can buy our state and city governments.

DON'T VOTE FOR THEM
or the current flock of losers that care less about America's citizens.
Nothing will change until we force change at the polls.

[Gernuser]

To make matters far worse, consider what the US government has actually done to fix the underlying problems? Nothing

good articles; http://iamned.blogspot.com

The government has put the same punch bowl out that got us into the mess in the first place. More debt and consumption and don't worry about paying it back. (Berbnanke= Greenspan II)