George S. May Business Blog

Ken Lewis forced to pay back BofA $1 million

Ken Lewis, Bank of America’s exiting CEO, will not be taking any more pay or bonuses from BofA in 2009. What’s more, any money that he has received this year, i.e. over $1 million, Ken Lewis will be paying back to the bank. Apparently Kenneth Feinberg, US Treasury Department’s special master for compensation, came up with the idea and Lewis agreed. Then again, these days when the Treasury Department has an idea, big bank execs really don’t have a choice but to agree.

Regardless, Ken Lewis will be writing the company a $1 million check.

Of course, that $1 million does not apply to his retirement package, which is tens of millions of dollars.

So in summary, this whole, Lewis paying back the company thing is big exercise in public relations. Lewis writes a check for $1 million to the company he retired from, the company he retired from gives him $53 million in pension benefits along with stock awards and deferred compensation for a total payout of $69 million, and we all say, Wow, Bank of America is really cracking down on their executive pay.

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