Bank of America CEO Moynihan awarded $20 million for 2016

Bank of America Corp raised Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Brian Moynihan's compensation by 25 percent in 2016 after the second-largest U.S. bank grew profits by 13 percent.

Moynihan's total compensation was $20 million, up from $16 million in 2015. As has been the case in prior years, his award includes a base salary of $1.5 million and no cash bonus. The remainder comes in units that can be converted into stock. Fifty percent of those units are subject to performance hurdles that must be met in later years.

Bank of America grew revenues and lowered expenses in 2016 while returning 33.3 percent to shareholders and achieving "historically low credit losses," according to a regulatory filing released Friday.

Moynihan earned 91 percent of the performance-restricted stock he was awarded in 2011 and just 42 percent of the performance-restricted shares he received in 2013, according to the bank's most recent proxy filing last year. Performance-restricted shares Moynihan received in 2012 and after 2013 are still pending.

JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon's compensation went up 3.7 percent to $28 million and Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman's compensation rose 7 percent to $22.5 million.

Moynihan took the helm of Bank of America in 2010 on the heels of the financial crisis. He inherited an institution that had more troubled mortgages on its books than any other U.S. bank and was in a tense marriage with Merrill Lynch, the storied brokerage it acquired in the midst of a market meltdown. Having spent much of his tenure slashing costs and resolving legal issues, the former attorney has lately been hiring salespeople and investing in technology in an effort to make the bank more efficient.

(Reporting by Dan Freed; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)